MISSING MOM'S SHOES, SOCKS, JACKET FOUND: WHERE'S FLORENCE? | Featuring "Up and Vanished" Host Payne Lindsey

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Recorded17 Feb 2025

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"Up and Vanished" host Payne Lindsey joins the program to discuss the focus of "Up and Vanished: In The Midnight Sun" - The Disappearance of Florence Okpealuk. Thirty-three-year-old Florence Okpealuk was last seen on West Beach in Nome, Alaska. When Blaire could not reach her sister, she posted on Facebook, asking if anyone had seen Florence, and began searching around town. Florence had not been to work or the grocery store, and neither her ex nor her friends had seen or heard from her. Blaire felt she had exhausted all leads when Naomi, a bartender at Board and Trade, messaged her. Naomi said she last saw Florence on her birthday, but a man at the bar claimed he saw Florence on West Beach with a miner the night she did not come home. Blaire and several family members canvassed West Beach, asking anyone willing to talk if they had seen Florence. Eventually, a man told Blaire he saw Florence leaving a nearby tent around 4 p.m. He asked Blaire to wait while he rummaged inside his tent, then returned with Florence’s socks, shoes, and jacket. Bewildered, Blaire asked where Florence was and why he had her belongings. The man became quiet but insisted he did not bring Florence to West Beach and claimed he found her belongings outside his tent. An older man in the neighboring tent offered a different account. He said he saw Florence with his neighbor the night before, riding down the beach on an ATV. The ATV did not return until the next morning, but his neighbor was the only rider. Blaire reported Florence missing at 6:15 p.m. that evening, two days after she last saw her sister. Payne Lindsey, host of the "Up and Vanished" podcast, traveled to Nome to investigate Florence’s disappearance. Lindsey contacted Naomi, the bartender from Board and Trade, who received a tip from a patron that Florence was last seen on West Beach. Naomi said the man who reportedly saw Florence worked as a freelance gold miner and also drove a taxi for Checkers Cabs. He lived in a tent on West Beach and was known locally as “Oregon John. Joining Nancy Grace today: Deilah Johnson - friend of Florence, Tribal Resources Director for the Village of Solomon, author of “One of Our Own” available at www.villageofsolomon.org; Facebook: Deilahrj; IG: @deilah_rex; TikTok: @deilahsolomonenwi Randolph Rice - Former Prosecutor and Current Criminal Defense & Civil Attorney at Rice, Murtha, Psoras, website: ricelawmd.com, IG, FB, X: @ricelawmd Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA, AngelaArnoldMD.com, Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital, Voted My Buckhead’s Best Psychiatric Practice of 2022, 2023 and 2024 Chris McDonough - Director At the Cold Case Foundation, Former Homicide Detective, Worked over 300 Homicides in 25 year career, Trained the first Native American Homicide Task Force; & Host of YouTube channel, "The Interview Room." Website: www.coldcasefoundation.org/chris-mcdonough Payne Lindsey - Podcast Host & Executive Producer of “Up and Vanished,” a true crime podcast about missing persons. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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