Content warning, this episode contains discussion of murder, sexual assault, and violence.

The walk was only a mile, but it must have felt very long and very dark to Laurel Jean

Mitchell.

The night was Wednesday, August 6, 1975.

At 10.15 pm, 17-year-old Laurel clocked out of work at the snack bar at the Cokesbury

Inn, a lakeside hall in North Webster, Indiana.

The Cokesbury was nestled in the Epworth Forest neighborhood.

Epworth Forest started out as a campground site for Methodist groups.

It developed into a place where different groups could camp and hold retreats and other

activities.

There were also a few houses occupied by renters, along with more permanent residents.

This was a place for fun and spiritual fulfillment.

It was also a place for local teenagers like Laurel to earn some money during summer break.

That night, after her snack bar shift, Laurel walked down Epworth Forest Road alone.

She had plans to meet her friends at Adventureland, a local amusement park.

They were going to hang out together at an arcade.

The start of August represented the beginning of the end of the summer.

The group of girls must have wanted to make the most of whatever unrestricted time they

had left.

The walk was only about a mile, but the moon was a waning crescent, and there were no

streetlights to guide her.

Something somebody was waiting in the shadows for Laurel.

...