David Shier Part 2: Graveyard of Secrets
The Vanished Podcast
Wondery
4.5 • 15K Ratings
🗓️ 23 June 2025
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Last week, in Part 1 of David Shier’s story, you heard about his sudden and unexplained disappearance from Trinidad, Colorado, on February 11, 2022. Dave’s wife recalled that he asked her to drive him somewhere because a person had called about a property. She didn’t know more than that, but Dave was frustrated with her because she already had plans to run errands for one of their daughters. She last saw him around 11 AM, and when she returned later that afternoon, Dave was missing.
When Dave didn’t return and no one had heard from him, his family reported him missing. Given his age and the unusual circumstances, law enforcement took the case seriously and launched immediate search efforts. A snowstorm that night forced them to pause, but searches resumed the following morning and continued for months, even years.
Clues began to surface: the unusual positioning of Dave’s truck, and a report of a white vehicle spotted near the home. Then came a crucial discovery, a neighbor’s trail camera footage, which law enforcement initially overlooked due to technical limitations. The neighbor eventually found an image of Dave walking away from the property around noon on the day he vanished. That footage is the last known sighting of him.
Despite extensive efforts, no trace of Dave was found, and the case went cold. Then, more than a year later, there was a strange twist in the case when the local coroner came under fire after the body of a man was exhumed, a man who had been considered a missing person for several years, and they found two bodies inside the grave where there was only supposed to be one.
Suddenly, David Shier’s case was back in the spotlight, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation launched a broader inquiry into potential misconduct in Las Animas County.
In this episode, we follow the strange and disturbing developments that brought new attention to Dave’s case, and explore the question: could he be the second person buried in that grave?
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of David Shier, please contact the Las Animas County Sheriff's Office at 719-846-2211.
If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is cracked open a huge fissure in Colorado. |
| 0:12.0 | This has cracked open a huge fissure in Colorado. |
| 0:16.0 | My lawyer said, you need to be careful because we're pissing off a lot of people. |
| 0:27.5 | I have to tell you, that picture of those legs in that grave haunt me almost every day. |
| 0:31.4 | I'm just not convinced that that second body isn't my husband in that grave. |
| 0:33.4 | And I really need to know. |
| 0:36.8 | Maybe I can put him to rest, just generally speaking. |
| 0:39.6 | She says, well, I have you on the phone. |
| 0:44.3 | You better do some checking because I am told that there are several bodies that have been buried in your cemetery without your knowledge. |
| 0:46.7 | What? |
| 0:47.5 | I know about your dad because you told me, but I don't know about any of the bodies. |
| 0:50.2 | What are you talking about? |
| 0:51.0 | Yeah. |
| 0:51.4 | She says, there's a reliable source that is saying there |
| 0:54.6 | are more bodies up there. I'm thinking, wait a minute, you went into my property to do, in my opinion, |
| 1:00.1 | when something's not only immoral, but illegal at least three times, and now I'm learning maybe |
| 1:05.0 | five times. Last week, you heard part one of David Shire's story. You learned about Dave's sudden and unexpected disappearance from Trinidad, Colorado, on February 11, 2022. |
| 1:17.6 | Dave's wife recalled that he had asked her to drive him somewhere because a person had called him about a property. |
| 1:23.6 | She didn't know much more than that. |
| 1:25.6 | But that morning, Dave was frustrated with his wife, |
| 1:28.8 | because she already had plans to run errands for one of their daughters. She last saw Dave |
| 1:33.4 | around 11 a.m. And when she returned from those errands, Dave was missing, though she didn't |
... |
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