September 24, 1963. Opa-locka, Florida. 29-year old pilot Geoffrey Sullivan takes off in a twin-engine Beechcraft Travel Air plane from Opa-locka Airport and is accompanied by 37-year old freelance journalist Alex Rorke, as well as a passenger believed to be a Cuban exile named Enrique Molina Garcia. Over the next several hours, Sullivan flies through the Caribbean and changes his flight plan several times, but after stopping to refuel on the island of Cozumel, the plane and its passengers vanish without a trace. Since Sullivan and Rorke were heavily involved in anti-communist missions against Fidel Castro, it is rumoured that they may have been captured and held prisoner in Cuba for years. Even though Sullivan’s daughter eventually files a wrongful death lawsuit against the Cuban government, she receives no conclusive answers about what happened. On this week’s episode, we explore a Cold War era mystery about a missing aircraft and two American men.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/geoffrey-sullivan/
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Geoffrey_Sullivan
https://www.newspapers.com/image/664216557/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/938207406/
https://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/11/archives/25000-offered-for-lost-fliers-2-us-men-and-passenger-vanished-over.html
https://www.newspapers.com/image/664065457
https://latinamericanstudies.org/belligerence/sherry-sullivan.htm
https://www.newspapers.com/image/850157644/
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna19946668#.XafOjehKhPY
https://www.click2houston.com/news/2012/01/16/a-daughters-mission/
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2012/04/22/news/waldo-county-woman-suing-cuba-for-nonpayment-of-21-million-wrongful-death-suit/
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2016/07/21/news/maine-woman-seeking-closure-for-dad-she-believes-was-shot-down-over-cuba/
https://fox23maine.com/news/local/after-a-30-year-search-will-new-relations-with-cuba-help-mainer-find-her-missing-father
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-med-1_16-cv-00310/pdf/USCOURTS-med-1_16-cv-00310-0.pdf
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-1st-circuit/1934306.html
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The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.
