meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Trail Went Cold

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 266 - Jocelyn Hickenlooper

The Trail Went Cold

Robin Warder

True Crime, Tv & Film

4.53.2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 March 2022

⏱️ 54 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

June 11, 1955. Salt Lake City, Utah. 22-year old Jocelyn Hickenlooper, who suffers from developmental disabilities and scoliosis, vanishes without explanation from her home. Over two weeks later, Jocelyn’s decomposed body is discovered in a shallow grave located near Parley’s Canyon. After a two-year investigation, a suspect named Bernt Murphy, who also has developmental disabilities, confesses to killing Jocelyn. Even after Bernt recants his confession and the murder charge against him is dropped, a district court judge rules Bernt to be legally insane and he is committed to the Utah State Hospital. When the Utah Supreme Court overturns this decision in 1988, Bernt is released from the hospital, but due to a number of troubling inconsistencies in his own original confession, there is a lot of doubt about whether he was actually responsible for Jocelyn’s murder. Did Bernt Murphy kill Jocelyn Hickenlooper, or was he nothing more than a convenient scapegoat while the real perpetrator got away with it? This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” marks the first time we have covered a cold case from Utah, which means podcast has now officially explored at least one unsolved mystery from all fifty American states. Additional Reading: https://www.abc4.com/justice-files-2/the-justice-files-the-murder-of-jocelyn-hickenlooper/ https://www.abc4.com/news/top-stories/the-justice-files-the-murder-of-jocelyn-hickenlooper-pt-2/ https://www.abc4.com/justice-files-2/the-justice-files-who-really-killed-jocelyn-hickenlooper-pt-3/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/456177920/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/598639766/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/598639775/ https://apnews.com/0c13258c4edf6eec2aa761a1fca11684 https://law.justia.com/cases/utah/supreme-court/1988/19824.html https://apnews.com/article/c899f55b284c7edc97ec677d48040585 https://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/08/us/man-who-was-judged-insane-is-held-in-attempted-break-in.html https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/iscz2h/who_killed_jocelyn_hickenlooper/ “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 2022: Vegas” at Paris & Bally’s in Las Vegas from April 29-May 1, 2022. To get a 10 % discount off a standard badge, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.com/. “The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon UK” at the Leonardo Royal Hotel & Spa in London on June 11-12, 2022. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to the event, please use our specialized promo code, “COLD22”, 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

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

June 11th, 1955. Salt Lake City, Utah.

0:05.6

22 year old Jocelyn Hickenlooper, who suffers from developmental disabilities in scoliosis,

0:11.1

vanishes of that explanation from her home. Over two weeks later, Jocelyn's

0:15.6

decomposed body is discovered in a shallow grave located near Parley's Canyon.

0:20.9

After a two-year investigation, a developmentally disabled suspect named Burnt Murphy confesses to killing Jocelyn,

0:27.0

but after he recants his confession and the murder charge against him is dropped,

0:31.0

a judge rules Burnt to be legally insane and he is committed to the Utah State Hospital.

0:36.0

When the Utah Supreme Court overturns this decision in 1988, Burnt is released from the hospital,

0:42.0

but there is a lot of doubt about whether he was actually responsible for Jocelyn's murder.

0:46.7

After that, the trail went cold. Oh, uh, yeah.

0:53.0

Oh, uh, uh,

0:55.0

and uh, and uh, and uh,

0:56.0

uh,

0:58.0

uh, uh, uh, uh,

1:04.0

uh,

1:05.0

uh, uh, uh, uh,

1:07.0

uh,

1:08.0

uh, uh uh uh... uh...

1:11.0

uh... Hello everyone and welcome to our latest episode of the Trail went cold.

1:28.0

I'm your host Robin Warder and on today's episode we're going to be exploring a very sad and unusual cold case from Utah,

1:35.9

the 1955 murder of Jocelyn Hickinloper.

1:39.5

This is officially the first episode of our seventh year as a podcast and the main reason I'm covering

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Robin Warder, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Robin Warder and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.