Lucas nodded. “Candace Swain—a nursing student with Sigma Rho sorority—was found dead in the lake at the Hope Centennial Golf Course. While the police had a suspect, a transient who was seen on campus several times in the weeks leading up to her disappearance, they never found him. According to a witness, he was seen jumping on a freight car shortly after her body was found.”

Regan remembered a few details about the case. “What’s the purpose of your podcast?” she asked.

“Well, there’s a lot of oddities about the case that I want to explore, but mostly I want to retrace her steps, from her disappearance until her death.”

Lucas leaned forward, clearly excited about his project. “Candace went missing shortly after midnight on a Friday right after the Sigma Rho Spring Fling ended. Her body was found Sunday morning—over a week later,” he emphasized. “No one has come forward to say they had seen her, talked to her, anything.

“The police know that Candace was friendly with a transient, Joseph Abernathy, through her volunteer work. Several witnesses said Candace confronted him the night she disappeared. My theory is that the police had it in their heads that Abernathy was guilty, and they didn’t fully look at other options. There was some circumstantial evidence against Abernathy, and his disappearance is suspicious. But I’ve done a lot of research over the last few months, and I’m positive something else happened.”

“What do you think happened?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Just not what the police think.” He took a deep breath. “I’m really getting ahead of myself. Here are the facts. Candace disappeared after the party. She was seen arguing with another sorority sister and walked off, upset. She wasn’t reported missing until Monday night. Her roommate had gone home that weekend and assumed when she returned late Sunday that Candace was with her boyfriend, so she didn’t worry about her until later. The campus police found Candace’s vehicle in the parking structure on Tuesday morning. They called her family, her friends, and then notified Flagstaff PD on Wednesday morning. At that point it would seem she’d been missing for five days.

“Flagstaff PD retraced campus-police steps—talking to her friends, her family. Candace was romantically involved with two men, a student and a bartender. They were both interviewed. Police also went to Sunrise Center, where Candace regularly volunteered, to talk to Abernathy, but he hadn’t been seen by staff for more than a week. This apparently wasn’t unusual because he only slept at the shelter when it was cold, though they were surprised he hadn’t come in for a meal. There had been previous complaints about Abernathy from business owners, so the police knew who he was and issued a BOLO.

“No progress was made until Candace’s body was found Sunday morning by the maintenance crew at Hope Centennial Golf Course.”