Melanie Flynn & Cocaine Bear Pt One

January 25, 1977. Lexington, Kentucky. 24-year old Melanie Flynn leaves her workplace, but fails to show up for an appointment and does not return home for dinner with her family. Two weeks later, Melanie’s abandoned car is discovered in an apartment complex parking lot and her purse is found washed up next to the Kentucky River later that summer. After numerous eyewitnesses claim to have seen Melanie alive in Florida, the police close the investigation, but her family is convinced she was murdered. Over the years, rumours circulate that Melanie worked as an undercover informant for the narcotics squad and was killed by corrupt police officers who were involved in drug trafficking. The story eventually balloons into a mammoth scandal known as the “Bluegrass Conspiracy”, but no trace of Melanie is ever found. This week’s episode of “The Path Went Chilly” explores a convoluted missing persons case which may have been connected to a multi-million-dollar drug smuggling ring & the side story of the tie in case of Cocaine Bear.

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Additional Reading:http://charleyproject.org/case/melanie-dee-flynn“The Bluegrass Conspiracy: An Inside Story of Power, Greed, Drugs and Murder” by Sally Dentonhttps://www.kentucky.com/news/local/crime/article232423297.htmlhttps://www.newspapers.com/image/101002756/https://www.newspapers.com/image/110786699/https://www.newspapers.com/image/110800054/

Welcome to The Path Went Chilly where Robin Warder from The Trail Went Cold will discuss his favorite cases with friends Dr. Jules from Riddle Me That! True Crime and Criminologist Dr. Ashley Wellman. This will be a deep dive and a fresh perspective, join us as we descend deeper down the rabbit hole & examine these unsolved cases with compassionate consideration towards the families left behind.

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• Latest episode: 2025-07-10
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