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Jun 23
1h 3m

David Shier Part 2: Graveyard of Secrets

Wondery
About this episode

Last week, in Part 1 of David Shier’s story, you heard about his sudden and unexplained disappearance from Trinidad, Colorado, on February 11, 2022. Dave’s wife recalled that he asked her to drive him somewhere because a person had called about a property. She didn’t know more than that, but Dave was frustrated with her because she already had plans to run errands for one of their daughters. She last saw him around 11 AM, and when she returned later that afternoon, Dave was missing.

When Dave didn’t return and no one had heard from him, his family reported him missing. Given his age and the unusual circumstances, law enforcement took the case seriously and launched immediate search efforts. A snowstorm that night forced them to pause, but searches resumed the following morning and continued for months, even years.

Clues began to surface: the unusual positioning of Dave’s truck, and a report of a white vehicle spotted near the home. Then came a crucial discovery, a neighbor’s trail camera footage, which law enforcement initially overlooked due to technical limitations. The neighbor eventually found an image of Dave walking away from the property around noon on the day he vanished. That footage is the last known sighting of him.

Despite extensive efforts, no trace of Dave was found, and the case went cold. Then, more than a year later, there was a strange twist in the case when the local coroner came under fire after the body of a man was exhumed, a man who had been considered a missing person for several years, and they found two bodies inside the grave where there was only supposed to be one. 

Suddenly, David Shier’s case was back in the spotlight, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation launched a broader inquiry into potential misconduct in Las Animas County.

In this episode, we follow the strange and disturbing developments that brought new attention to Dave’s case, and explore the question: could he be the second person buried in that grave?

If you have any information regarding the disappearance of David Shier, please contact the Las Animas County Sheriff's Office at 719-846-2211.

If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form.

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