The Trail Went Cold - Episode 221 - Jim & Lois Arrotta

The Trail Went Cold

Robin Warder

True Crime, Tv & Film

4.5 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2021

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

September 4, 1964. Great Falls, Montana. 43-year old Jim Arrotta and his 35-year old wife, Lois Arrotta, are found stabbed to death inside a grocery store where Jim works as the manager. Since the couple’s children last saw them at their home when they went to bed the previous night, investigators theorize that Jim and Lois were lured to the store and killed during a botched robbery. Over 37 years later, Alan Reavley, a former employee who had been fired from the grocery store for theft, is charged with the murders. However, since the case against Alan is shaky and no physical evidence links him up to the crime, he winds up being acquitted at trial. Did Alan Reavley get away with the murders of Jim and Lois Arrotta, or was someone else was responsible? We will explore both sides of a very controversial murder case on this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”. This episode of The Trail Went Cold is brought to you by Best Fiends, a unique and exciting puzzle experience unlike other puzzle games out there. Download Best Fiends FREE on the Apple App Store or Google Play. That’s FRIENDS without the R, Best Fiends! Additional Reading: https://billingsgazette.com/jim-and-lois-arrotta-great-falls/article_48f8cbcb-cce3-5ad8-9199-e376140a7a60.html https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/local/2014/09/04/years-later-arrotta-murders-still-shock-great-falls/15054583/ https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/local/2014/09/07/double-murder-trial-riveted-great-falls/15233469/ https://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/reavley-found-not-guilty-of-40-year-old-great-falls-murders/article_a806538a-4cc3-5f70-ace2-d067a54ddc91.html https://helenair.com/news/state-and-regional/daughter-of-slain-couple-testifies/article_3a08cd3d-9ca1-5a91-b7c0-972d1625f163.html https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/chance-finds-man-at-same-place-as-alleged-slayer-of-his-brother/article_0780bf37-0e87-578a-bb91-05cf203d2df1.html https://ravallirepublic.com/news/state-and-regional/article_a8d75928-1b5e-5aad-af47-b5aaa775b434.html https://caselaw.findlaw.com/mt-supreme-court/1246029.html https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2004/may/25/woman-admits-taking-rings-from-ex-client/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/243621834/ “The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content. “The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon UK” at the Leonardo Royal Hotel & Spa in London on September 25-26, 2021. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to either event, please use our specialized promo code, “COLD21”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.co.uk. “The Trail Went Cold” is now doing a weekly livestream show on GetVokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website. The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We would like to send out a special thanks to the fun and challenging best fiends,
0:04.4	the infamously impossible to put down puzzle game. Download best fiends free today on the Apple
0:10.2	App Store or Google Play. That's Friends Without The R Best Theeans. Thank you and enjoy the show.
0:17.0	September 4th. 1964 Great Falls, Montana. Montana.
0:23.0	43-year-old Jim Arata and his 35-year-old wife, Lois Arata, are found stabbed to death inside a grocery
0:29.6	store, which Jim manages.
0:32.2	Since the couple's children last saw them at their home when they went to bed the previous night,
0:36.0	investigators theorized that Jim and Lois were lured to the store and killed in a botched robbery.
0:42.0	Over 37 years later, a former store employee named Alan Reeveley is charged with the murders,
0:47.9	but he winds up being acquitted when he goes on trial, so the actual truth about who killed
0:52.4	the erradas is left up for debate.
0:55.0	After that, the trail went cold. Oh, uh, uh, and uh, uh, uh, and uh, uh, uh, I'm not. Oh, uh, there. Oh, uh, uh, Hello everyone and welcome to our latest episode of the Trail Went Cold.
1:36.0	I'm your host Robin Warner and today we're going to be exploring an older case
1:40.4	involving the brutal deaths of a married couple, the 1964 murders of Jim and
1:45.4	Lois Arrada. This case was originally suggested to me about two years ago by a
1:50.3	listener named Melanie and while I had never heard of it before, it features a number of twists and turns.
1:56.0	At the time these murders took place, Jim Arrada was the manager of a super-safe grocery store in Great Falls, Montana, but when employees arrived to open up the
2:05.0	store one morning, they discovered the bodies of Jim and his wife, Lois, who had both been
2:10.0	bound, gagged, and stabbed multiple times.
2:13.4	And what was particularly tragic is that the Arat is left behind seven children.
2:18.2	There were a number of potential suspects, but the most intriguing was an 18-year former employee named Alan Reevely who had been fired from the store weeks earlier for theft.
2:29.0	It would be four decades before Alan was charged with the murders, but the problem is that no physical evidence linked him to the crime, and the case was based largely on the interpretation of supposedly incriminating statements he made over the years.
	...

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