Over the last few years it seems podcasts have really taken off. Almost everyone seems to have a favorite channel to listen to, whether on the commute to work, while on a scenic walk, or just to leisurely kill some time.
But true-crime fanatics have taken podcasts to another level. From cold cases to homicides and even the most mysterious of missing person cases, true-crime junkies can’t get enough. Most true-crime podcasters have loyal audiences who tune in to every episode.
As the largest law enforcement agency in the state of New Mexico, the Albuquerque Police Department investigates some of the area’s most notorious cases. APD is at ground zero of investigations with details true-crime fanatics would love to get their hands on. So, who better to tell these stories than APD’s investigators themselves?
We launched a podcast created by the Police Department and embraced by our investigators – a concept not many other agencies have tried, or may even consider. It may sound crazy; what agency wants to put so much information out there for the whole world to hear? Obviously, we have to be careful not to jeopardize investigations. But we are navigating that priority with the public interest in solving crimes. After all, we are in the business of solving crimes.
The first episode of the Duke City Case Files Podcast features the 1983 murder of 71-year-old Agnes Tybo. Tybo, who went by Aggie, was a Native American woman visiting Albuquerque from the Duck Valley Reservation in Owyhee, Nevada. She and her sister, Cecilia, were staying in separate rooms at the Sundowner Motel along Central, as they were planning to see the 8th Annual Indian National Finals Rodeo.
Agnes never made it to the event. She was found killed the morning after her arrival in her motel room. In her final moments, while getting ready for bed and watching TV, an intruder robbed her and claimed her life. Tybo’s beautifully detailed handmade beadwork, jewelry and a large sum of money she’d just won at a casino vanished, along with her killer.
For 39 painful years, Aggie’s family has sought answers, as the killing left a generational impact on her family. With advancements in technology, DNA collected at the scene has been submitted for testing in hopes it will produce leads.
In episode two, “The Missings,” Cold Case Investigators Liz Thomson and Ida Lopez are guest speakers, detailing the investigations into eight women who all went missing between 2003 and 2006.
The women, who were known to battle addictions and were in and out of jail, are suspected to have met the same fate as the 11 women and unborn child found on Albuquerque’s West Mesa in 2009. That case, better known to APD as the 118th Street case, remains unsolved, as does the whereabouts of the eight women who have never been found.
At the end of the day, the goal is to help solve cases and bring justice to the victims and their families. Although it may seem like an unorthodox investigative tactic, the podcasts have the potential to be highly effective.
Could the true-crime sleuths be able to help? Could a listener have crucial information they’ve been sitting on for years but were too scared to come forward? Or, could the killer be listening and be provoked to come forward?
Only time will tell.
