The Trail Went Cold - Episode 315 - Hugh & Dian Harlin, Larry Costine & Melissa Jo Sermons

The Trail Went Cold

Robin Warder

True Crime, Tv & Film

4.5 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 February 2023

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

October 13, 1982. Morro Bay, California. The decomposed body of 43-year old Dian Harlin is discovered in a stand of trees next to a beach and she has been strangled to death with a leash belonging to one of her dogs. It turns out that Dian’s eccentric 47-year old husband, Hugh Harlin, had failed to report her missing for eleven days and since the couple was known for having a turbulent relationship, Hugh becomes a potential suspect in his wife’s murder. Four years later, Hugh inexplicably vanishes without a trace after his abandoned pick-up truck is discovered by the side of the highway. Investigators are unable to determine if Hugh’s disappearance is connected to Dian’s murder, but both cases are never solved. May 3, 1992. Polk County, Florida. After attending a rodeo, 31-year old Larry Costine and his 26-year old girlfriend, Melissa Jo Sermons, return to Larry’s mobile home. Larry’s nude body is eventually discovered inside the trailer and since he was shot four times and Jo has gone missing, investigators initially suspect that Jo killed Larry and went on the run. However, two decades later, law enforcement announces that they now believe Jo was a victim and was murdered by the same person who shot Larry. While Jo’s ex-boyfriend is considered to be the prime suspect, there is not enough evidence to charge him with the crime and Jo is never found. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we cover two unsolved mysteries in which one half of a couple was murdered while the other half went missing. If you have information on the Hugh & Dian Harlin case, please contact the Morro Bay Police Department at (805) 772-6225. If you have information on the Larry Costine & Melissa Jo Sermons case, please contact the Polk County Sheriff’s Office at (863) 533-0344. Additional Reading: https://unsolved.com/gallery/hugh-harlin/ https://charleyproject.org/case/hugh-frederick-harlin https://www.newspapers.com/image/808583090/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/808464923/ https://unsolved.com/gallery/larry-costine/ https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Larry_Costine https://www.newspapers.com/image/339386848/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/339518288/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/339522597/ https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/2013/07/06/deland-man-a-suspect-in-1992-killing-womans-disappearance/30632866007/ https://www.theledger.com/story/news/2014/08/09/1992-costine-slaying-case-suddenly/8187709007/ https://www.theledger.com/story/news/2014/08/30/suspect-indicted-on-perjury-charge/26984190007/ https://www.theledger.com/story/news/2014/09/11/bail-set-at-5-000/8191605007/ “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 doing a weekly livestream show on Vokl 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 going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon UK” at the Tower Bridge, Leonardo Royal Hotel & Spa in London on June 10-11, 2023, as well as “Crimecon” at the World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida on September 22-24, 2023. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to either event, please use our specialized promo code, “COLD23”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.co.uk or https://www.crimecon.com. 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	October 13th, 1982.
0:04.0	Moro Bay, California.
0:06.6	The decomposed body of 43-year-old Diane Harlan is discovered in a stand of trees next to a
0:11.6	beach, and she has been strangled to death with a leech, belonging to one of her dogs.
0:16.0	It turns out that Diane's eccentric 47-year-old husband, Hugh Harlan, had failed a reporter missing for 11 days, and since the couple was known for having a turbulent relationship, Hugh becomes a potential suspect in his wife's murder.
0:29.4	Four years later, Hugh becomes a missing person after his abandoned pickup truck is discovered by the side of the highway.
0:37.0	Investigators are unable to determine if Hugh's disappearance is connected to Diane's murder, but the crime is never solved and no trace of Hugh is ever found.
0:46.1	After that, the trail went cold. Oh, uh, yeah.
0:53.0	Oh, uh, uh, and uh,
0:55.0	and uh, uh, uh, uh,
0:58.0	uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, I'm not. Oh, uh,
1:04.0	uh,
1:05.0	uh, uh, uh, uh,
1:07.0	uh,
1:08.0	uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, Hello everyone and welcome to our latest episode of the Trail went cold.
1:28.0	I'm your host Robin Warder and today we're going to be covering two separate cases involving couples that were featured on unsolved mysteries.
1:36.1	The cases are not connected, but they have one major detail in common.
1:40.8	One half of the couple was murdered murdered and their spouse subsequently went missing.
1:45.0	I'm talking about the sagas of Hugh and Diane Harland, as well as Larry Kostein and Melissa Joe Sermons.
1:52.0	The Harlands were a very eccentric married couple who lived in a small coastal town in California
1:57.0	and were known for having heated arguments, but after taking her dogs out for a walk one night,
2:02.0	die and was strangled to death with one of their leashes. but after taking her dogs out for a walk one night,
	...

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