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The Trail Went Cold

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 328 - The Florence Salon Murders

The Trail Went Cold

Robin Warder

True Crime, Tv & Film

4.53.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2023

⏱️ 55 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

November 6, 2001. Florence, Montana. A customer enters a salon called the Hair Gallery and discovers the bodies of three murdered women: the salon’s 62-year old owner, Dorothy Harris, a 44-year old employee named Brenda Patch, and a 71-year old customer named Cynthia Paulus. The victims have each had their throats cut and the customer reports that an oddly dressed individual wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a long black coat was exiting the salon when they arrived. Six-and-a-half years later, a pair of drug dealers named Brian Weber and Lincoln Benavides are indicted for their alleged roles in the crime, but since the evidence against them is not particularly strong, the murder charges against them are eventually dropped. Were Weber and Benavides responsible for killing these three women? If not, who was the perpetrator and what could their motive have been? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the horrific and perplexing crime known as “The Florence Salon Murders”. If you have any information about this case, please contact the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office at (406) 375-4060. Additional Reading: https://billingsgazette.com/news/local/town-shocked-by-beauty-salon-murders-killer-still-on-loose/article_60ccaede-de9d-59f9-96a5-c6aa89f2fea7.html https://missoulian.com/a-tale-of-five-murders/article_67794684-3696-5da1-8006-5d44963d0f47.html https://missoulian.com/florence-murder-case-stands-alone-in-fbi-records/article_101cb5b5-ec16-5cf5-98e9-4d902e80cbf1.html https://mtstandard.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois-murders-share-similarities-with-unresolved-florence-killings/article_ace8066c-29a2-5fbd-a2a4-e9544178cb25.html https://missoulian.com/news/local/article_b2a3d5f8-c28d-11de-b1cb-001cc4c03286.html https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/federal-judge-dismisses-charges-in-florence-triple-murder-case/article_e1a46c3c-0a7c-11df-9268-001cc4c002e0.html https://www.kpax.com/news/mtn-original-productions/the-florence-murders-20-years-later https://greatbendpost.com/posts/b71f6fd9-f340-4839-bd6a-9eb7b0f92322 https://www.kwch.com/2022/09/06/kbi-announce-new-evidence-2002-dolly-madison-bakery-murders/ “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” will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Austin, Texas on August 25-27, 2023. To get a 15 % discount on the purchase of tickets, please our specialized promo code, “TRAIL”, by visiting https://truecrimepodcastfestival.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

November 6th, 2001.

0:04.0

Florence Montana.

0:06.4

A customer enters a salon called the Hair Gallery and discovers the bodies of three murdered

0:10.9

women.

0:11.9

The salon's 62 yearold owner Dorothy Harris, a 44-year-old

0:15.7

employee named Brenda Patch, and a 71-year-old customer named Cynthia Paulis.

0:21.3

The victims of each had their throats cut and the customer reports having seen an oddly dressed individual exiting the salon when they arrived.

0:28.0

Six and a half years later, a pair of drug dealers named Brian Weber and Lincoln Benavetus are indicted for their alleged roles in the crime,

0:36.0

but the charges against them are eventually dropped and no one is ever convicted of the Florence Salon murders.

0:42.0

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

0:54.0

uh, for, uh, uh, uh, yeah. Oh, uh, uh, uh,

1:05.0

uh, and uh, and uh,

1:06.0

uh, uh,

1:08.0

uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, Hello everyone and welcome to our latest episode of The Trail Went Cold.

1:25.0

I'm your host Robin Warder and today we're going to be covering an odd crime in which there were three victims.

1:32.0

The 2001 murders of Dorothy Harris, Brenda Patch, and Cynthia

1:35.9

Paulis, aka the Florence Salon murders. I've received a few requests to cover this one over the years and would often pass by it on my list of case requests,

1:45.8

but it wasn't until recently when I finally decided to start delving into the story

1:50.1

and it turned out to be a major rabbit hole.

1:53.0

The crime took place at a salon called the Hare Gallery located in rural Montana

1:57.5

as someone inexplicably went in there during business hours

2:01.0

and savagely cut the throats of two employees and a customer.

...

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