Robert Redford's Death Might Help Catch a Killer
How Men Think
iHeartPodcasts
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 8 November 2025
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Robert Redford’s daughter’s boyfriend, Sid Wells, was murdered more than 40 years ago on the campus of CU Boulder. His murder was never solved and his killer, never captured. But now, Redford’s death has re ignited the focus to find Wells’ killer. The actor had been passionate about solving the case while he lived, and so the FBI re-released the name and photo of the man they believe is responsible, hoping to catch now 66 years old Thayne Smika who vanished in 1986.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:06.1 | Hey there, folks. It is Saturday, November the 8th, and the hunt is on for a killer. |
| 0:14.2 | For the killer who murdered a University of Colorado college student 40 plus years ago. |
| 0:20.7 | But there is a renewed effort to find |
| 0:22.6 | this killer because of the death of Hollywood legend Robert Redford. And with that, welcome to this |
| 0:28.5 | episode of Amy and TJ. I think robs a lot of people don't even know this connection. It's |
| 0:34.1 | fascinating to hear, but a guy has been on the loose for 40 plus years, |
| 0:39.2 | and after Robert Redford's death, there is a whole new effort to find this guy. |
| 0:44.3 | That's right. Robert Redford died September 16th. The next day, the following day, |
| 0:50.9 | the FBI announced in a social media post that it was offering a $10,000 |
| 0:55.3 | reward for information leading to the arrest of Sid Wells' murder suspect, the name Thane Allen |
| 1:02.0 | Simca. And it was a deliberate decision to use the death of Robert Rafford to renew the effort to find this guy |
| 1:13.2 | who has been on the run since 1986. So what's the connection and who cares and why would |
| 1:20.3 | Robert Redford care where there is a connection here and it seems a little bit Rose like it's |
| 1:24.6 | you said it that way and I know you didn't mean it negatively and the the authorities don't either. They used his death. Well, it was a brilliant move, because |
| 1:33.1 | everybody's talking about, and it was talking about Robert Redford, in this cold case of 40-plus |
| 1:37.5 | years now, there was attention on Robert Redford and his life and his background and his family and his |
| 1:45.0 | daughter. And people started to make the connection and hear about this story that he has for |
| 1:50.7 | 40 years been wanting to find the guy who killed his daughter's boyfriend when they were in |
| 1:58.7 | college. That's right. So his daughter was dating |
| 2:02.4 | Sid Wells. He was 22 years old. This is such a, just a tragic and sad and all murders are, |
| 2:09.9 | but this one just seems so pointless. He was literally weeks away from beginning his senior year |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 13 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.