A woman murdered, a blue Continental vanishing into the night, and a private eye haunted by a rumored ghost that won’t rest until justice is served.

THE TRUE CRIME CASE THIS STORY IS BASED ON: On the evening of June 17, 2000, a 9-1-1 call came into the Wake County Sheriff's Office from Ray’s Grocery on White Oak Road in Garner, North Carolina. A woman, 37-year-old Colleen Blackburn, had been shot in what appeared to be a botched robbery. By the time help arrived, she was already gone — a fatal gunshot wound to her shoulder blade ending her life in the parking lot of the small, rural convenience store where she worked. Colleen lived a quiet, hardworking life. She held down three jobs, had just earned a medical transcriptionist degree from Wake Technical College, and was trying to build a better future for herself after losing her mother to a chronic illness. She loved country music and occasionally attended square dances — a friendly, familiar face in her community. Despite the initial witness describing a light-blue mid-1980s Oldsmobile with part of its rear bumper missing fleeing east toward Clayton, the investigation quickly ran cold. Ray’s Grocery had no surveillance cameras, and the vague vehicle description led nowhere. Investigators believed someone in the area might have seen something without realizing its importance, but no one ever came forward. More than two decades have passed since that night, and Colleen’s killer — or killers — remain unknown. The fifty dollars stolen is long gone, but the injustice lingers. Aside from her friends and surviving family, the world seems to have forgotten Colleen Blackburn. But her story, like too many others, still deserves answers. If you know someone who may have committed this killing, contact the Wake County sheriff's office at 919-768-5100.

SOURCES…
Kidnapping, Murder, and Mayhem: https://tinyurl.com/47xw76j9
Music provided by Alibi Music Library
Video version created by https://www.fiverr.com/vane875
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Originally aired: April 06, 2025

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