251 - The Disappearance of Judy Martins

Trace Evidence

Steven Pacheco

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.7 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2025

⏱️ 90 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Trace Evidence relaunches with the story of Judy Martins. Twenty-two year old Judy Martins was a bright and talented student attending Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. During the early morning hours of Wednesday, May 24th, 1978, Judy donned a silly red wig and visited multiple buildings on campus to hang out and joke around with friends.

At approximately 2:30 AM she left Dunbar Hall to go back to her room in Engleman Hall, a little over 1000 feet away. She never made it back to her room and has never been seen again. Nearly fifty years later and not a single trace of Judy was ever found, no suspects were ever named and no answers have ever been found.

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Music Courtesy of:

"Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
"Echoes of Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
"Galactic Rap" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The unseasonably chilly downpour that had flooded down in thick sheets slowly transitioned into a thin mist.
0:16.6	The dull orange glow of the few lamp posts scattered across campus hung heavy in the drizzling condensation.
0:24.4	Their dusty radiance skipping along the gathering puddles like the shivering flames of phantom candles,
0:30.9	appearing to almost phase in and out of the deepening darkness.
0:35.0	The spreading veil of night move from building to building, thick shadow sweeping
0:40.0	across the glistening grass of the commons as windows illuminated in the dim yellow light of
0:45.8	death lamps were snuffed out by tired hands, seeking the comfort and warmth of their beds, and
0:52.2	a new beginning with the sunrise just now hours away.
0:56.8	Not everyone was preparing to turn in, however, as raucous laughter and loud conversations
1:02.4	could still be heard echoing down the waxed and shimmering corridors of several halls and
1:06.9	dormitories. Headlights approaching from the west split the darkness as an older model car
1:13.0	came to a squeaking stop just in front of the doors of Prentice Hall, an all-girls dormitory.
1:19.7	The passenger doors swung open and out stepped a young woman. Her countenance reethed by the
1:25.8	dangling strands of vibrant red ringlets cascading down from the silly wig she'd thrown on earlier in the night, sharing a good laugh with her friends.
1:34.3	In fact, it was that wig in part which had brought her to Prentice Hall at that late hour, wanting to share the humor and make the punchline go a little longer.
1:48.2	Drawing the belt of her trench coat tighter around her waist,
1:53.5	the 22-year-old co-ed strodeed quickly towards the partially illuminated doors of the hall.
2:00.3	Once inside, she shook the rain out from the red wig and began moving toward the dorm room of a friend, each step down the hall
2:02.1	accompanied by the squeaking squish spit out by the soles of her brown leather boots.
2:07.9	After hanging out for a short period of time and sharing laughs with a few people,
2:12.5	Judy Martens decided to try and get a little more mileage out of her over-exaggerated,
2:17.4	comical appearance.
	...

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