In February 1975, nine-year-old Marcia Trimble vanished while delivering Girl Scout cookies in Nashville’s Green Hills neighborhood, shattering the sense of safety surrounding one of the city’s most affluent communities. Her disappearance and murder became one of Tennessee’s most haunting cold cases, marked by suspicion, unanswered questions, and a mystery that lingered for decades.

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Episode Sources

• The Tennessean archival reporting on the disappearance, search, and investigation of Marcia Trimble (1975–2009): https://www.tennessean.com/
• Nashville Banner historical coverage via Nashville Public Library Digital Collections: https://digital.library.nashville.org/ (digital.library.nashville.org in Bing)
• Metro Nashville Police Department public statements and case summaries related to the Trimble investigation: https://www.nashville.gov/departments/police (nashville.gov in Bing)
• Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals opinion in State of Tennessee v. Jerome Sydney Barrett (2009): https://www.tncourts.gov/
• Davidson County Criminal Court filings and docket information for Barrett’s prosecution: https://sci.ccc.nashville.gov/ (sci.ccc.nashville.gov in Bing)
• Vanderbilt University archives documenting the murder of Sarah Des Prez and Barrett’s connection: https://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/speccol/
• Belmont University reporting and campus safety archives referencing the February 1975 assault linked to Barrett: https://www.belmont.edu/
• A&E Cold Case Files episode “The Girl Scout Murder” (Marcia Trimble case): https://www.aetv.com/shows/cold-case-files (aetv.com in Bing)
• Nashville Scene long‑form reporting on the Trimble case and the Womack investigation: https://www.nashvillescene.com/
• Interviews with Jeffrey Womack published across multiple decades, including retrospective reporting by The Tennessean: https://www.tennessean.com/
• Nashville Public Library Metro Archives: Belle Meade and Green Hills neighborhood development history, maps, and planning documents: https://library.nashville.org/research/metro-archives (library.nashville.org in Bing)
• U.S. Census Bureau demographic data for Nashville and Davidson County (1960–1980):
• Historical accounts of Belle Meade’s origins and incorporation as an independent city: https://www.citybellemeade.org/
• Reporting on the 1979 grand jury indictment of Jeffrey Womack via The Tennessean archives: https://www.tennessean.com/
• Coverage of the 2008–2009 DNA breakthroughs and Barrett’s prosecution from The Tennessean and AP News: https://apnews.com/
• Academic research on investigative tunnel vision and wrongful suspicion in 1970s policing (National Criminal Justice Reference Service): https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs
• Oral histories and interviews with Nashville residents who participated in the 1975 search efforts (Nashville Public Library Oral History Collections): https://library.nashville.org/research/oral-history (library.nashville.org in Bing)
• Contemporary reporting on changes in Tennessee missing‑child protocols influenced by the Trimble case (TBI & state legislative archives): https://www.tn.gov/tbi

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

A storm‑tossed blockade‑runner, a satchel of Confederate gold, and a woman whose secrets shaped the early days of the Civil War—this episode uncovers the life of famed spy Rose O’Neal Greenhow. From Washington parlors to prison cells to the dark waters off Fort Fisher, her story reveals the hidden world of Southern espionage and the final choice that bound her to the cause she refused to abandon.

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Episode Sources

• Greenhow, Rose O’Neal. My Imprisonment and the First Year of Abolition Rule at Washington. London: Richard Bentley, 1863.
• Pinkerton, Allan. The Spy of the Rebellion: Being a True History of the Spy System of the United States Army During the Late Rebellion. New York: G.W. Carleton & Co., 1883.
• Boyd, Belle. Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1865.
• Van Lew, Elizabeth. Papers and correspondence, 1860–1870. Library of Virginia, Richmond.
• Davis, Jefferson. The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1881.
• U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880–1901.
• National Archives and Records Administration. “Old Capitol Prison Records,” Record Group 393.
• Blanton, DeAnne. “Women Soldiers, Spies, and Patriots of the Civil War.” National Archives, 1993.
• Leonard, Elizabeth D. All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999.
• Wheeler, Richard. Voices of 1861. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1961.
• Clinton, Catherine. Southern Women in the Civil War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
• McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
• Browning, Robert M. From Cape Charles to Cape Fear: The North Atlantic Blockading Squadron During the Civil War. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1993.
• Fonvielle, Chris E. The Wilmington Campaign: Last Rays of Departing Hope. Campbell, CA: Savas Publishing, 1997.
• “Wilmington Daily Journal,” October 1864. Coverage of the wreck of the Condor and the death of Rose O’Neal Greenhow.
• “Richmond Enquirer,” 1861–1862. Reports on the arrest and imprisonment of Rose O’Neal Greenhow.
• “The New York Times,” August–September 1861. Coverage of Greenhow’s arrest and Pinkerton’s investigation.
• Library of Congress. “Civil War Glass Negatives and Related Prints,” Prints and Photographs Division.
• National Park Service. “First Battle of Manassas: Intelligence and Espionage,” Manassas National Battlefield Park.
• Sutherland, Daniel E. A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009.
• Fishel, Edwin C. The Secret War for the Union: The Untold Story of Military Intelligence in the Civil War. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.
• Bakeless, John. Spies of the Confederacy. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1970.
• Horan, James D. Confederate Agent: A True Story of the Civil War. New York: Crown Publishers, 1954.
• Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies, Series I, Vol. 10. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1900.
• North Carolina Office of Archives and History. “Fort Fisher and the Blockade Runners,” Raleigh, NC.

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In 1970, Thomas Gilmore became the first Black sheriff in rural Greene County, Alabama. He refused to carry a gun. How did a man of peace earn the trust to enforce the law in a place shaped by deep racial divides? And why does his story remain largely unknown?

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Episode Sources

• Richard Bailey — Neither Carpetbaggers Nor Scalawags: Black Officeholders During the Reconstruction of Alabama, 1867–1878. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1572687
• Eric Foner — Freedom’s Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders During Reconstruction . https://uncpress.org/book/9780807858863/freedoms-lawmakers/
• Alabama Department of Archives & History — Reconstruction‑era election record. https://archives.alabama.gov
• Greene County Historical Society. https://www.greenecountyhistoricalsociety.org
• University of Alabama — Black Belt Heritage Collections. https://guides.lib.ua.edu/blackbelt
• Birmingham Civil Rights Institute — Oral Histories. https://www.bcri.org/oral-history-project
• U.S. Department of Justice — Voting Rights Act historical materials. https://www.justice.gov/crt/voting-rights-act-1965
• Frye Gaillard — Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the Movement That Changed America . https://ugapress.org/book/9780820324722/cradle-of-freedom
• Marshall Frady — The Southerner . https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1358422
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference Archives. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/southern-christian-leadership-conference-sclc
• Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Digital Gateway. https://snccdigital.org
• Birmingham News (historical archives). https://www.newspapers.com/paper/the-birmingham-news/268/
• Tuscaloosa News (historical archives). https://www.newspapers.com/paper/the-tuscaloosa-news/2681/
• Equal Justice Initiative — Historical reports on policing in Alabama. https://eji.org/reports/
• Douglas A. Blackmon — Slavery by Another Name. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/18327/slavery-by-another-name-by-douglas-a-blackmon/
• Isabel Wilkerson — The Warmth of Other Suns. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/19076/the-warmth-of-other-suns-by-isabel-wilkerson/
• This Man Stands Alone (film about Thomas Gilmore). https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250463/

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In June 1948, 21-year-old Mary Virginia Carpenter left Texarkana for college in Denton, Texas. She was last seen after a taxi dropped her near Brackenridge Hall at Texas State College for Women. The letter she promised her mother never came, and neither did Virginia. More than 70 years later, her disappearance remains one of Denton’s quiet, enduring mysteries.

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Episode Sources

• Denton Record‑Chronicle. Coverage of the disappearance of Virginia Carpenter. https://dentonrc.com
• Texarkana Gazette. Reporting on the Carpenter case and related community response. https://www.texarkanagazette.com
• Texas Woman’s University Libraries, Special Collections. Historical information on TSCW campus life and 1940s dorm policies. https://twu.edu/library/special-collections/ (twu.edu in Bing)
• Texas Rangers Hall of Fame and Museum. Background on Ranger Lewis C. Rigler and investigative practices. https://www.texasranger.org
• The Charley Project. “Mary Virginia Carpenter.” https://charleyproject.org/case/mary-virginia-carpenter (charleyproject.org)
• The Doe Network. Case File 1198DFTX. https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1198dftx.html (doenetwork.org in Bing)
• Unsolved Mysteries Wiki. “Virginia Carpenter.” https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Virginia_Carpenter
• Texas Monthly. “The Phantom Killer.” https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-phantom-killer/
• FBI Vault. Archival documents related to mid‑20th‑century missing persons investigations. https://vault.fbi.gov
• Newspapers.com. Digitized historical newspapers used for timeline verification. https://www.newspapers.com
• Ancestry.com. U.S. Census and public records consulted for background verification. https://www.ancestry.com

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In the summer of 1924, a railroad worker was found dead near tracks in Little Rock. Weeks later, his wife was found dead in another state. What followed was a series of headlines that pointed to one woman—Winona Spriggs. Her name would appear again and again over the next fifty years, linked to crime, escape, and murder. This is the story of a family broken, and of the woman who never stopped running.

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Visit SouthernMysteries.com for more episodes and source lists.

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Episode Sources

• Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, AR), 1924–1974
• Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock, AR), 1924–1954
• The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK), 1924–1954
• Tulsa Tribune (Tulsa, OK), 1924–1948
• Miami News-Record (Miami, OK), August 1946
• The Salinas Californian (Salinas, CA), 1953–1954
• The San Bernardino Sun (San Bernardino, CA), October–November 1974
• The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), March 16, 1954
• Associated Press (AP) wire reports, 1924–1954
• Pulaski County Circuit Court records (Arkansas)
• Oklahoma criminal investigation records (Miami, OK)
• California Superior Court records (Salinas, CA), 1954
• Arkansas State Penitentiary records and parole files
• Oklahoma Department of Corrections records
• California Department of Corrections records
• U.S. Census records (1910, 1920, 1930, 1940)
• Marriage and divorce records for Winona Spriggs / Winona Green / Winnie Ola Freeman
• Death records for J.R. Green, Lena Green, Robert Sheldon Wilkinson, Harold Jonassen, and Winnie Ola Freeman
• Library of Congress, Chronicling America newspaper archive
• Newspapers.com archival database
• Ancestry.com historical records
• Unknown Misandry blog: “Winnie Ola Freeman (Winona Green): The Cat Woman” (2014)

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In December 1968, Barbara Jane Mackle was kidnapped from a motel room outside Atlanta, Georgia. The circumstances surrounding her abduction were so strange, investigators could barely make sense of them. The search for twenty year old Barbara Jane Mackle became a race against time that gripped her family and drew national attention.

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Episode Sources

• Miller, Gene. 83 Hours Till Dawn. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971.
• “FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives: Ruth Eisemann-Schier, 1969.” Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ten Most Wanted Program Archives.
• “Kidnapped Heiress Rescued from Buried Box.” The Miami Herald, December 21, 1968.
• “Barbara Mackle Found Alive.” The Atlanta Constitution, December 21, 1968.
• “Agents Seize Suspect in Mackle Kidnapping.” The Miami Herald, December 21–23, 1968.
• “Man Held in Heiress Kidnap Case.” The New York Times, December 22, 1968.
• “Girl in Box Case.” Los Angeles Times, December 22, 1968.
• “Suspect Caught in Marsh After Days on the Run.” Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale), December 1968.
• “Woman on FBI List Seized in Oklahoma.” The Oklahoman, February 8, 1969.
• United States v. Gary Steven Krist, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, 1969.
• United States v. Ruth Eisemann-Schier, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, 1969.
• FBI, Supplemental Case Report: Kidnapping of Barbara Jane Mackle, December 1968 (declassified portions).
• Jordan, C.D. “Account of the Mackle Kidnapping Rescue.” Interview, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 1970.
• Associated Press. “Heiress Found Alive in Buried Box; Ransom Paid.” December 21, 1968.
• United Press International. “Search Intensifies for Kidnappers After Ransom Drop Fails.” December 1968.
• “Krist Granted Medical License Despite Record.” The Indianapolis News, July 23, 1985.
• U.S. Department of Justice. “South Florida Man Sentenced in Cocaine Trafficking Case.” DOJ Press Release, 2006.
• “Eisemann-Schier Paroled and Deported.” The Miami Herald, 1973.
• Emory Wheel (Emory University). “Student Kidnapped from Decatur Motel.” December 18–22, 1968 coverage.
• “The Mackle Kidnapping Revisited.” People Magazine (retrospective feature), 1998.
• “Buried Alive: The 1968 Abduction of Barbara Mackle.” CNN.com, Crime Retrospective Series, 2003.
• “83 Hours in the Earth.” CBS News Sunday Morning, archival retrospective segment.

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In 1877, a young woman arrived in Jefferson, Texas, wearing diamonds and traveling with a man who claimed to be her husband. Days later, her body was found in the woods, and her name was unknown. She became known as Diamond Bessie, and her death led to one of the most sensational murder trials in Texas history. This episode of Southern Mysteries explores her life, the circumstances of her murder, the trials of Abe Rothschild, and the legacy of a woman the town refused to forget.

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Episode Sources

• Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) entry on "Diamond Bessie"
• Handbook of Texas Online
• Library of Congress Newspaper Archives
• “East Texas in the 1800s: Jefferson and the Murder of Diamond Bessie,” Jefferson Historical Society
• Oakwood Cemetery, Jefferson Texas burial records
• University of North Texas Portal to Texas History
• The Diamond Bessie Murder Trial – Jefferson Playhouse historical archives
• “The Jefferson Murders” — archived article from The Dallas Morning News
• East Texas Tales by Bob Bowman
• Chronicling America – Historical newspaper records (Library of Congress)
• Marshall, Texas Capitol Hotel registration archives (via local historical society)
• “Diamond Bessie Reenactment Keeps History Alive” — Texas Highways
• Ancestry records and obituaries (Watertown, NY) for Annie Stone / Bessie Moore
• Archives of the Rothschild family business in Cincinnati (local historical collections)

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.