Show Notes
“If something happens to me, don’t give up until you find out what happened," Pamela Butler told her brother. He could never have guessed he would need to do just that.
In February 2009, Pamela Butler, a 47-year-old IT specialist in Washington D.C., disappeared from her home. Pamela was security-minded and her home security system would capture details critical to her case, details such as her new boyfriend entering and returning to her home repeatedly in the days between her last known interaction and her family realizing she was missing.
Despite this evidence, Pamela's case would languish, passing from one detective to the next, until years later, a name buried in the case file would change the direction of the investigation and raise disturbing questions about another woman whose disappearance had never been fully explained. 📍 Washington, D.C. | February 12, 2009
📖 Featuring an original poem read in her honor by Emonie Ellison Earl. ➡️ Help bring attention to missing and unidentified women—subscribe and share this episode.
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More about Emonie Ellison Earl
Emonie Ellison Earl is an actress best known for portraying Therise, Cornbread’s wife, in Ryan Coogler’s critically acclaimed film Sinners, starring Michael B. Jordan. Being part of a project recognized across the Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, Golden Globes, NAACP Image Awards, and other prestigious honors has been both humbling and affirming. Her credits also include Tom Hanks’ A Man Called Otto, Body Cam opposite Mary J. Blige, and a variety of television, film and commercial projects.
Beyond the screen, Emonie is a wife, mother, woman of faith, Realtor, coach, and proud dog mom. Her life experiences shape the depth, authenticity, and perspective she brings to every role. Grounded in faith, driven by purpose, and passionate about connecting with people, she believes storytelling is more than a profession, it is a reflection of who she is! Through her work, she hopes to bring meaningful stories to life, create lasting connections, and leave an impact both on and off the screen.
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More from She Goes by Jane: A True Crime Podcast
For years, Steven Sherer had called his wife, Jami Hagel Sherer, over and over whenever she was away from him. It was a way for him to constantly monitor where she was, who she was with, and to control her actions. On September 30, 1990, he called Jami’s parents’ house twice. And then the phone stopped ringing.Jami had told her mother that morning that she was leaving Steven. Jami told her mother she just wanted to gather a few belongings, grab her favorite lunch, and then return to her parents’ house. It should have taken minutes.Jami never arrived.When Jami didn’t arrive and Steven didn’t call, her mother worried the two had reconciled. But when Steven showed up without Jami claiming he hadn’t seen her, her mother knew something was very wrong. Jami Hagel has been missing since that day in 1990. Listen to Part 2.📍 Redmond, Washington | September 30, 1990
In 1986, 22-year-old Jami Hagel met Steven Sherer at a bar in Redmond, Washington. He was charming, persistent, and was soon sending her a dozen roses. Within months, the relationship that started with romance would become something far more frightening.
On a June night in 1950, seventeen-year-old Barbara Kelley left home for a date with Henry Baird, a 28-year-old World War II veteran she had been seeing for several months. Barbara told her parents she would spend the night at a friend’s house in nearby Eureka. There was no reason for them to worry. The next morning, Henry was found nude on a remote beach along the Northern California coast. He had been shot to death. His companion, Barbara, was nowhere to be found.Henry had been shot in the back of the head. Nearby, his clothes were found neatly stacked. With them were Barbara’s clothes. But there was no sign of Barbara. Within hours, police began to investigate the theory the teenager had been involved in Henry’s death. In the years since the murder and disappearance, speculation has run rampant including false confessions, searches through the woods, and a connection to an eerily similar case in another county.But at the heart of it all is Barbara Kelley, a seventeen-year-old girl who went on a date and never came home.📍 Humboldt County, California | June 17, 1950
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On November 18, 1995, Jacqueline “Jackie” Levitz spent two hours choosing wallpaper for the new home she was renovating in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She had only recently moved back to the area to be closer to her family, and she was already imagining the house as a gathering place for the people she loved.That shopping excursion would be the last time anyone saw her.Two days later, a friend went to check on Jackie after her family realized she wasn’t answering the phone. Her Jaguar was still parked outside and her jewelry and fur coats were still in the house. A television was playing in the bedroom and a half-finished glass of water sat on the windowsill. But Jackie was gone.The search for Jackie produced possible witnesses and conflicting theories about what happened to Jackie that night, but none of those brought law enforcement any closer to finding Jackie or learning what happened to her.Today, more than three decades later, Jacqueline Levitz remains missing.