A couple of years ago, during one of the many Geeky Writers broadcasts, my good friend Eryk Pruitt mentioned a local cold case he’d been researching. He’d mention it every time we spoke–new evidence, meeting with the victims’ families, discussing case details with the local police–and over time I began to see my friend’s passion for not just researching this particularly dark part of North Carolina history, but for bringing justice to the victims and their families after nearly 50 years.

After two years of long drives and sleepless nights, the fruit of Eryk’s labors have been unveiled: an eight-episode podcast titled THE LONG DANCE.

From the website:

On February 12, 1971, in Durham, North Carolina, a 20-year-old nursing student and her 19-year-old boyfriend left a Valentine’s Dance to park down a secluded lover’s lane. They never returned. Two weeks later, their bodies were found deep within the Carolina pines. They had been strangled, tortured, and murdered. Their murders have never been solved.

THE LONG DANCE is the story of the lives touched by the murders of Patricia Mann and Jesse McBane. Produced by crime fiction author Eryk Pruitt, investigative reporter Drew Adamek, and sound engineer Piper Kessler, it uses recorded interviews to tell the tragic tale of North Carolina’s most baffling murder case.

In creating THE LONG DANCE, we had a very simple goal: To create the substantive record about the lives and deaths of Patricia Mann and Jesse McBane, as well as the forty-six year investigation into their murder, and the stories of those people touched by their deaths.

Not only were we fortunate enough to record several hundreds of hours of interviews with our subjects, but we also became active participants in the investigation by helping to secure the DNA profiles of the three suspects who had never been eliminated. We have partnered with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office who believes this may be the final chance to close the book on the forty-six year old murder case.

THE LONG DANCE is the result of Eryk’s journey, because it became more than just research to him, more than just an investigation. This was his journey into the heart of a crime writer’s true passion and, dare I say, true purpose: to shed light on the vermin who prey in the shadows so that they may not hide.

If you’re at all interested in true crime, I urge you to listen to the eight episodes of this podcast. Share with your friends. Throw some support to my friend Eryk and his team. They’ve more than earned it.

Click here for THE LONG DANCE website, where all eight episodes are available. The podcast is also available for free on iTunes, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Google, and wherever else you get your podcast fix.

TK