Gone

Criminal

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, True Crime

4.7 • 39.4K Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

One night in 1989, Karen Palmer got in her car with her husband and two daughters and drove away from their home in California. They didn’t tell anyone where they were going. Karen Palmer’s memoir is She’s Under Here. Say hello on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Sign up for our occasional newsletter. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts. Sign up for Criminal Plus to get behind-the-scenes bonus episodes of Criminal, ad-free listening of all of our shows, invitations to virtual events, special merch deals, and more. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop. Episode transcripts are posted on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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1:01.2	We really left overnight. You know, I had a job I was working for a semiconductor firm
1:07.0	just outside Santa Cruz, and I just one day didn't go to work.
1:12.6	This is Karen Palmer. That's not the name she was born with. She changed it in 1989
1:18.0	after she and her new husband and two daughters went on the run. Her children, Amy and Aaron,
1:24.6	were three and seven. What did you tell your daughters about what was happening?
1:31.0	You know, the little one, she was so little, she didn't understand anything.
1:37.8	Erin was enough older that she knew what was happening around her on some level.
1:45.2	And we told her, we're going to go live somewhere where we're safe.
1:50.9	Erin never told us soul.
1:53.4	I think, you know, somewhere inside her, she knew that it was important,
1:59.1	and she wanted to help.
2:03.6	I'm Phoebe Judge. This is criminal.
2:23.3	For almost a year, Karen's ex-husband, Gill, had been threatening and stalking them. It started when Karen left him.
2:26.3	They've been married for eight years.
2:29.3	Karen met Gil when she was 17.
	...

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