Mackenzie Cowell

Mackenzie Cowell

From Love Marry Kill: Just the Facts by Tina and Rich

May 4, 2026 · 54 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the mysterious disappearance and murder of seventeen-year-old Mackenzie Cowell in Washington state.

Mackenzie Cowell was seventeen years old — a dancer, a cosmetology student, and a young woman with her whole life mapped out in front of her — when she stepped out of her beauty school in Wenatchee, Washington one February afternoon and never came back. Four days later, her body was found partially submerged in the Columbia River, twenty miles from where she had disappeared. What followed was one of the stranger murder investigations in recent Washington state history. Investigators chased a months-long dead end involving drug dealers, a supposed snuff film, and an informant whose story kept changing. Meanwhile, the real answer had been hiding in plain sight — in the classroom where Mackenzie spent her afternoons, and in an apartment where a piece of carpet held a secret that luminol would eventually reveal. Mackenzie had survived a difficult childhood, a contentious home life, and the relentless schedule she had set for herself. She made it through all of that. She didn't make it through one ordinary Tuesday afternoon. Support us on Patreon Sources: Fretwell, Courtney. "Mackenzie Cowell." Forensic Tales, Rockefeller Audio, 30 Mar. 2026. Quirky-Motor. "[EXTENSIVE write up on the…

People in this episode

Hosts: Tina, Rich

Topics covered

  • murder investigation
  • missing person
  • true crime
  • Washington state
  • teenage victim

Keywords

  • Mackenzie Cowell
  • murder investigation
  • missing person
  • Wenatchee
  • Columbia River

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Forensic Tales, Reddit

Places: Wenatchee, Washington, Columbia River

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