August 1, 2007. Powder Springs, Georgia. After not being heard from for over 30 hours, 46-year old Jane Kuria and her two daughters - 19-year old Isabella and 16-year old Annabelle - are found bludgeoned to death inside their home. Jane’s eight-year old son, Jeremy, and her eleven-year old nephew, P.K. Thande, are also severely beaten and left comatose, but while they wind up surviving their injuries, they are unable to provide much information about who attacked them. Since the Kurias originally hailed from Kenya and had been seeking asylum in the United States, investigators explore a number of different scenarios, including the possibility of some family friends being responsible for the murders, but the case is never solved. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore a horrific and baffling crime known as the Kuria family murders.

Additional Reading:

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Kuria_Family

https://unsolved.com/podcasts/the-kuria-family-murders/

https://unsolved.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/108-The-Kuria-Family-Murders-Web-Final.pdf

https://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/archive/police-question-survivor-of-attack-that-killed-3-in-georgia-home/article_aa17ad8f-fd8d-5827-b222-886708c23c60.html

https://www.wave3.com/story/6875529/police-searching-for-suspect-in-attack-that-killed-3-in-georgia-home/

https://mshale.com/2007/09/06/detectives-progress-on-murders-of-kenyan-mother-daughters/

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/02/us/02attack.html

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/investigations/gone-cold/gone-cold-a-family-massacred-a-case-left-cold/85-511736512

https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/powder-springs-community-rallies-around-teen

"The Trail Went Cold" will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Boston North Shore in Boston, Massachusetts on July 18-20, 2025. To get a 20 % discount on tickets, please our specialized promo code, “ROBIN20”, by visiting https://www.truecrimepodcastfestival.com/.

“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

May 28, 1981. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 30-year old Christine Schultz, the ex-wife of police officer Fred Schultz, is shot to death inside her home and Fred’s current spouse, Laurie “Bambi” Bembenek, is soon charged with the crime. Even though Laurie insists that she was framed by the police and the evidence against her was planted and fabricated, she is convicted of first-degree murder and receives a sentence of life imprisonment. In 1990, Laurie manages to escape from prison with the assistance of her new spouse before they are recaptured in Canada, but even though Laurie continues to maintain her innocence, she is allowed to walk free after agreeing to enter a plea of “no contest” to the crime. Was Laurie “Bambi” Bembenek actually responsible for the murder of Christine Schultz or was she the victim of an elaborate frame-up job? Last week, in Part One of our series, we chronicled the events in this case leading up to Laurie Bembenek’s prison break. This week, we will share the rest of the story and provide our theories and analysis about this very controversial and sensationalistic case.

Additional Reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Bembenek

"Run Bambi, Run" by Kris Radish

https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/1991/10/was-bambi-framed

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-trouble-for-dr-phil-guest/

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2003/01/18/bembenek-case-takes-new-turns-with-dna-and-dr-phil/

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/22/us/22bembenek.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20141019065121/http://www.milwaukeemag.com/article/6212011-laurieslastdays

https://www.jsonline.com/story/life/2023/09/12/lawrencia-laurie-bembenek-run-bambi-run-facts-murder-escape-from-prison-cause-of-death/70794066007/

https://www.jsonline.com/picture-gallery/life/2023/09/07/laurie-bembenek-tried-for-murder-in-1982/70791199007/

"Run Bambi Run" Podcast

"The Trail Went Cold" will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Boston North Shore in Boston, Massachusetts on July 18-20, 2025. To get a 20 % discount on tickets, please our specialized promo code, “ROBIN20”, by visiting https://www.truecrimepodcastfestival.com/.

“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.