This episode discusses crime scenes.

Listener discretion is advised.

This is the Fall Line.

When we began work on the case of Brian Wurley, who disappeared in Carrollton, Georgia in 2009, we started where we always do, connecting with the family, filing freedom of information act requests, contacting law enforcement.

When we gained access to some of the files associated with Brian's case, one of the first things we noticed was that in 2015, Trace Sargent had aided in a search of the family property.

Now, we knew her name. She's the top canine search and rescue specialist in our state, Georgia, and one of the most respected and experienced experts in the country.

Trace has worked on many cases in the Southeast and beyond, from search and rescue during natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, to searches for human remains in missing persons and suspected homicide cases.

She searched for Chase Masner, Natalie Holloway, Deorcoons, and dozens of people you've probably heard of.

But Trace Sargent, she searches for everyone. Her focus remains on families, not how high profile the case is.

There are who she thinks of each time she begins a new search, whether it's for a child or elder that's been missing hours, or a loved one missing for 10 years.

We were lucky enough to sit down with Trace this summer and talk to her about all things canine, how she found the field, how she trains her dogs, how the sitting process works, how cases have affected her.

There was a lot. We think you'll enjoy hearing what she has to say, because it's absolutely fascinating.

Trace, you have a resume that is very long and very impressive. If you had to sum up what you do in a sentence, what would you say?

Laura, I would say what most people know me for is missing person cases. And as since I find missing persons both dead and alive in all kinds of situations.

And I think that's how our audience might know you. You've worked on a number of high profile cases and appeared on TV. I know you worked the case of Chase Masner, and on the second search for Natalie Holloway.

But you take all kinds of cases, natural disasters, missing persons, homicides and more, both in the US and abroad. How many cases have you worked since you began?

That's a really tough question to answer because over the years there's so many that I've worked of kind of lost count really.

If I had to estimate, it's probably about 1,400 cases over the years. So I've been involved, as you said, in a vast array of searches over the years. And it's been really a privilege to help all kinds of families and officials in all kinds of situations. And they have been many over the years.

Did you set out to become a key known trainer and handler? How did you come to this work?

When people asked me about how I got involved in this, and was it something that I dreamed about or thought about as a young child and my goals and aspirations, it's not an easy question to answer because it was more of an accidental journey with a lot of faith, a lot of trust, and a lot of unknowns that led me to where I am today.

So let me take you back on how this started and it's a little, I'll give you the really short, short version of it. So back way back when I was in college, I was working full time and going to school full time.

And my life was really a blur.

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