The Trail Went Cold - Episode 244 - Richard Lancelyn Green

Explicit content warning

09/22/21 • 45 min

1 Listener

March 27, 2004. London, England. 50-year old Richard Lancelyn Green, considered to be the world’s foremost scholar on Sherlock Holmes, is discovered dead on top of his bed inside his flat. His cause of death is determined to be asphyxiation, as he was garrotted with a shoelace which was tightened around his neck with a wooden spoon. Prior to his death, Lancelyn Green told people his life was in danger over a dispute involving a collection of rare documents from author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but since there is no definitive evidence pointing towards homicide or suicide, the coroner returns an open verdict on his death. Was Richard Lancelyn Green the victim of foul play or did he intentionally stage a very unusual and elaborate suicide? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the unexplained death of a Sherlock Holmes expert which resembles a scene from a fictional murder mystery.

Additional Reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lancelyn_Green

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/12/13/mysterious-circumstances

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/may/23/books.booksnews

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1478814/Case-of-the-Sherlock-Holmes-fanatic-who-killed-himself-but-made-it-look-like-murder.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/3653645.stm

https://www.smh.com.au/world/hint-of-murder-in-suicide-of-expert-on-conan-doyle-20041213-gdkays.html

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/%60Perfect+mystery%27+of+writer%27s+death+plot%3B+Claim+on+Sherlock+Holmes...-a0126061909

Be sure to check out our promo for the serialized true crime podcast, “Tapes from the Darkside”. Each season, they take one case and investigate in-depth using primary audio from 911 calls, police interrogations and interviews, court proceedings, and any other relevant source they can find.

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

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The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Additional Reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lancelyn_Green

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/12/13/mysterious-circumstances

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/may/23/books.booksnews

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1478814/Case-of-the-Sherlock-Holmes-fanatic-who-killed-himself-but-made-it-look-like-murder.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/3653645.stm

https://www.smh.com.au/world/hint-of-murder-in-suicide-of-expert-on-conan-doyle-20041213-gdkays.html

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/%60Perfect+mystery%27+of+writer%27s+death+plot%3B+Claim+on+Sherlock+Holmes...-a0126061909

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Previous Episode

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 243 - Jamie Santos & Rebecca Young

October 28, 1991. Wheeling, Illinois. A 911 dispatcher receives an anonymous call from a payphone by a man asking for medical attention for a woman. When paramedics arrive at the address the caller provides, they discover the unconscious body of 27-year old exotic dancer Jamie Santos on her bedroom floor and it turns out she has been suffocated with a pillow. There is ambiguity about whether the caller was Jamie’s killer or an innocent bystander who found her body, but he cannot be identified and Jamie’s murder is never solved.

May 1, 1991. Palm Beach County, Florida. The Miami Police Department receives a 911 call from a Spanish-speaking man calling himself “Antonio”, who claims he had witnessed the brutal murder of an African-American woman in a remote sugar can field one week earlier. When police check out the location Antonio described, they find the decomposed body of 26-year old Rebecca Young, who was fatally attacked with a machete. Even though investigators eventually turn up a promising suspect, they lack the evidence to make an arrest and the mysterious “Antonio” is never tracked down.

On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore two separate unsolved murders which were reported by anonymous 911 callers.

If have any information about the murder of Jamie Santos, please contact the Wheeling Police Department at (847) 459-2632. If you have any information about the murder of Rebecca Young, please contact the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office at (561) 688-3000.

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Additional Reading:

https://unsolved.com/gallery/jamie-santos/

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Jamie_Santos

https://abc7chicago.com/archive/8409252/

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1991-11-01-9104080336-story.html

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-05-15-9202130130-story.html

https://unsolved.com/gallery/rebecca-young/

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Rebecca_Young

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1991-05-06-9102250177-story.html

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1992-11-11-9202280959-story.html

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Next Episode

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 245 - Crystal Champagne

July 19, 1996. Westwego, Louisiana. After leaving her apartment to walk to a supermarket, 14-year old Crystal Champagne fails to return and is found strangled to death in a wooded area the following evening. When Crystal’s 22-year old step-cousin, Damon Thibodeaux, is interrogated by police, he confesses to her murder and is subsequently convicted and sentenced to death. However, Damon maintains that his confession was coerced and none of the physical evidence from the crime matches him, so after 16 years of incarceration, Damon’s conviction is vacated and he is released from death row. But who was actually responsible for the death of Crystal Champagne? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the tragic story of an horrific murder which led to a wrongful conviction. Special thanks to listener Anne King for narrating the opening of this episode.

Additional Reading:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/damon-thibodeaux-last-chance/

https://innocenceproject.org/cases/damon-thibodeaux/

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/la-supreme-court/1325303.html

https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=4004

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/dec/07/dna-testing-frees-man-death-row

https://www.startribune.com/life-after-death-row-damon-thibodeaux-s-resurrection/318969021/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/louisiana-death-row-inmate-damon-thibodeaux-is-exonerated-with-dna-evidence/2012/09/28/26e30012-0997-11e2-afff-d6c7f20a83bf_story.html

https://www.startribune.com/damon-thibodeaux-escaped-death-row-for-a-crime-he-didn-t-commit-but-died-of-covid-19/600096179/

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“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.