
About this episode
The episode revisits the case of Tonya Teske and explores new information about a person of interest, Mark Douglas Burns, in connection with her disappearance and murder.
This week, we’re resurfacing an important old episode for you because we just learned more information about a person of interest who’s never been ruled out. His name is Mark Douglas Burns, and he's a terrifying individual. He came up in a Crime Junkie episode we dropped in the fan club in which Burns confessed to murdering a young mom in her home back in 2001. And the overlaps between him and Tonya’s last known movements cannot be ignored. Re-listen to today's episode closely... and then go check out the episode on Sue Gunderson Higgins in the Crime Junkie Fan club and tell me what you think. Could Mark be the missing link? Tonya Teske was a free-spirited 18-year-old who chose to live her life on the open road by hitchhiking around the mountain west. On August 13, 1997, she was last seen in Montana at a truck stop before her body was discovered two days later on the side of a highway in Idaho.
Topics covered
- true crime
- unsolved cases
- missing persons
- hitchhiking
- murder investigation
Keywords
- Tonya Teske
- Mark Douglas Burns
- Crime Junkie
- missing persons
- murder
- Idaho
- Montana
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Crime Junkie
Places: Idaho, Montana
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