Tonya Teske (The 2 of Spades, Idaho)

The Deck

Audiochuck

True Crime

4.6 • 10.7K Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, we’re resurfacing an important old episode for you because we just learned more information about a person of interest who’s never been ruled out. His name is Mark Douglas Burns, and he's a terrifying individual. He came up in a Crime Junkie episode we dropped in the fan club in which Burns confessed to murdering a young mom in her home back in 2001. And the overlaps between him and Tonya’s last known movements cannot be ignored. Re-listen to today's episode closely... and then go check out the episode on Sue Gunderson Higgins in the Crime Junkie Fan club and tell me what you think. Could Mark be the missing link? Tonya Teske was a free-spirited 18-year-old who chose to live her life on the open road by hitchhiking around the mountain west. On August 13, 1997, she was last seen in Montana at a truck stop before her body was discovered two days later on the side of a highway in Idaho.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This week I wanted to resurface an important old episode for you because there's more information that's out there now.
0:08.2	You see, there is a person of interest in Tanya Teske's case that I didn't even mention in the original episode because there wasn't enough information about him when we released it in 2023.
0:23.2	Well, we have learned a whole lot more since then, and I want to tell you about a guy named Mark Douglas Burns. He is a
0:29.2	terrifying individual that just came up in a crime junkie episode that I dropped in the fan club.
0:36.6	Mark Burns confessed to murdering a young mom in her home
0:39.7	back in 2001, and authorities believe that he could be capable of much more. Now, law enforcement
0:46.6	in Tanya's case have not gone to talk to Mark in prison yet, so he has neither been officially
0:52.7	ruled in or ruled out. But the overlaps between him and
0:58.0	Tanya's last known movements can't be ignored. So relisten to today's episode closely. And then if
1:05.4	you're interested, go check out the episode on Sue Higgins' murder in the crime junkie fan club
1:10.8	and tell me what you
1:12.1	think. Could Mark be the missing link to solving Tanya's case?
1:21.9	Our card this week is Tanya Teske, the two of spades from Idaho. Free-spirited Tanya was 18 and choosing to live her
1:30.2	life on the open road by hitchhacking all around the mountain west when one summer day in 1997
1:36.1	she hitched a ride that would be her last. For the past 26 years, the investigation into Tanya's
1:42.1	murder has spanned across several states, and detectives
1:45.1	are very close to solving it. So I need you to listen close, because they've decided to provide
1:51.0	us with the most information they have ever released in her case in hopes of a resolution.
1:57.3	I'm Ashley Flowers, and this is the deck. August 15th, 1997 was a Friday afternoon, and a trucker named John and his wife had just picked up a load of produce in East Idaho.
2:42.6	John hopped into the passenger seat while his wife took the wheel and off they went.
2:47.2	But when they turned on to the on-ramp of U.S. Highway 20 near Yukon, Idaho, something out the window caught John's eye.
2:54.9	It was a naked woman lying motionless on her back down the grassy embankment off the highway ramp.
	...

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