When a New York woman embarks upon a short walk in her own neighborhood, she's abducted by an unfathomably cruel killer.

Investigators pursue answers in a case that has haunted them for years in this episode of Last Seen Alive.

... Thanks for listening to Last Seen Alive.

I'm your host, Leah, crime analyst by day and true crime storyteller by night.

And as always, I'm a co-host, Scott.

Special thanks to Jessica, who brought today's case to our attention.

We really appreciate those of you who take time to make case suggestions,

especially when they're for cases that haven't received a great deal of media coverage and could use a public awareness boost.

And today's case is definitely one of those, which, to be honest, took me by surprise.

The woman whose story were about to tell you was killed in such an unusually cruel way

that I'm surprised her unsolved case hasn't received media attention outside of her home

state. On that note, a quick word of caution. This

episode does contain discussion of a sexual assault-related injury. Although, as usual, we won't go

into any excessively graphic or unnecessary detail. The facts of this case are of a sensitive nature.

Therefore, please listen with caution. Carol Ryan was last seen alive on September 1st, 1996.

She was 42 years old at the time and lived in the moderately sized city of Syracuse, New York.

She'd been born and raised in a nearby small town where she grew up as part of a large family.

As an adult, though, her life was different. She traded her tiny hometown for the

nearby city and had only one child of her own, a son named Sean, with whom she had a close bond.

She'd had him at a young age and worked hard to raise him as a single mom. Starting out adult life as a

single parent is rarely, if ever, easy, but Carol had a fun-loving spirit that

she carried into her 40s. She was an avid dancer and loved music, especially rock bands that

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