Larry Riegel Part 1: Shifting Narratives
The Vanished Podcast
Wondery
4.5 • 15K Ratings
🗓️ 12 May 2025
⏱️ 75 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It was Christmas 2009 when 57-year-old Lawrence Riegel vanished from Yakima, Washington. Larry had plans to visit his family the day after Christmas, but he never showed up, which was completely out of character for Larry. He was known for always arriving with his famous peach pie in hand. At the time, Larry was living with his girlfriend, Ladena, who told the family that Larry had left town and headed for the coast. That explanation didn’t sit right with his loved ones. Larry didn't like traveling to the coast and would never have missed Christmas, especially without calling to let his family know.
Ladena later said that Larry returned in early January, and the two got into a physical altercation. Larry supposedly walked out and was never seen or heard from again. This new story raised even more questions. No one else has reported seeing or hearing from Larry since Christmas Day. Though Ladena's account has long been viewed with suspicion, Larry’s disappearance remains unsolved more than 15 years later.
Today, Larry's family is pushing for a renewed effort to reexamine his case, hoping to uncover new information that will lead them to Larry.
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Larry Riegel, please contact the Yakima Police Department at (509) 575-6200 or the Yakima County Crime Stoppers at (800) 248-TIPS.
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 | Larry Regal was an interesting guy. He was a really accomplished pilot, small aircraft, bush pilot. |
| 0:17.0 | He was extremely social, friendly with everybody. He was the kind of guy that he would |
| 0:22.7 | call everybody. If he would call a friend and they didn't answer the phone, their answering machine |
| 0:28.7 | would pick up and he would fill the entire segment until it just shut down. And if he wasn't |
| 0:33.8 | finished, he'd call back and add some more. I was the one taking the bull by the horns. |
| 0:38.9 | I was so upset. |
| 0:40.6 | I kept very detailed note on everything. |
| 0:44.3 | Everybody, I talked to date, time, phone numbers. |
| 0:47.8 | I started doing that because I have two friends that are retired FBI. |
| 0:53.5 | I called my friend a week or so into his disappearance, |
| 0:58.3 | and I said, I don't know what is going on. I mean, nobody plans for a disappearance. |
| 1:03.7 | People never tell you how difficult it is. There are roadblocks at every turn. He said, |
| 1:10.1 | you write down everything. |
| 1:11.6 | And I'm really, really, really glad I did that because I was diagnosed with a brain tumor five years ago. |
| 1:17.6 | There are things that sometimes I forget. |
| 1:22.6 | It was Christmas of 2009 when 57-year-old Lawrence Regal, better known as Larry, vanished from |
| 1:29.7 | Yakima Washington. |
| 1:31.5 | He had made plans to visit his family the day after Christmas, but never showed up, |
| 1:36.2 | which was completely out of character for Larry. |
| 1:38.8 | He was known for always showing up with his famous peach pie in hand. |
| 1:42.8 | At the time, Larry was living with his girlfriend, |
| 1:44.8 | Ledina, who told the family that Larry had left town, headed for the coast. But that |
... |
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