This episode contains graphic content that may not be suitable for all ages.

Listener discretion is advised.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available.

Call or text 988 or chat with someone at 988 lifeline.org. Those outside of the U.S.

reach out to someone at your local crisis center or hotline.

Please do not suffer in silence. In western Washington state, cloud cover is frequent and persistent.

Moist air from the Pacific Ocean rises over the Olympic mountains before settling into long stretches of gray.

Rain is common, sunlight less so for most of the year.

Bores dominate the landscape, thick with fir and moss and cedar.

Visibility drops quickly once you step off the road.

By the mid-1980s, this part of the state was in a period of transition.

Timber jobs were disappearing and the economic boom that would reshape Washington a decade later had not yet arrived.

Communities like Spanaway reflected that uncertainty.

Located just south of Tacoma, Spanaway sat between pockets of rural and suburban life,

marked by trailer parks and a constant population turnover tied to a nearby military base.

It was a place where people often passed through, and where it was easy not to look too closely.

On the evening of Thursday, December 12, 1985, shoppers at a Kmart and

Spanaway found a toddler loitering outside the entrance. She had been spotted beforehand

playing with two other children outside the store, but as shoppers came and went, the little

girl remained outside. The store's assistant manager reported a missing child over the

store's intercom, but that did nothing to rouse a parent or guardian. When asked, the

toddler was unable to provide much in detail. She couldn't tell store employees her name or

...