Aurora police hope cold case podcast could help solve murder of Chelsea Yasser
An Aurora murder caught on camera, but with little other clues to go on, has remained a cold case for ten years. Now, police are hoping a podcast can help crack the case.
Back in the week of May 15th, 2016, there was a lot going on. People were monitoring the spread of the Zika virus, then candidate Donald Trump was in the middle of his first campaign for President, and Aurora Police shot an offender fleeing a traffic stop. That shooting ultimately proved to be justified. So, police say it may have been easy to miss this one murder case amidst the other events.
"If you weren't watching the news that day or you didn't pick up a copy of the paper that day, you might not know anything about this case," said Joe Moylan, a Public Information Officer for the Aurora Police Department.
On Sunday, May 15th, 2016, at 9:59 PM, a caller reported to the Aurora Police that they had found a woman lying in the parking lot of a Burlington Coat Factory in the 1200 block of Abilene Street. That woman was 21-year-old Chelsea Yasser from Arizona. She had been stabbed multiple times. Yasser was rushed to the hospital, where she later died.
The murder was caught on camera. Police say a van drove up, pulled Yasser inside, and a struggle ensued when she was presumably stabbed.
"There's evidence that she fought back, and she got out of the car. You do see on video that she takes several steps and then she collapses," said Moylan.
Police immediately began their investigation, but there was little left at the scene in the way of clues, and they couldn't make out the license plate of the van in the video, so they turned to the public for help.
"There was media attention at the time. We did push out videos and photos on social media. We got very little tips in this case," said Moylan.
Now, ten years later, the case is cold, and they are turning to the public again. This time in a different way. They are releasing a podcast about the case called "The White Whale — The Chelsea Yasser Story".
"True crime is a widely popular genre, not just podcasts, but books, TV shows, all that stuff. And I think what we're trying to do is to tap into a broader audience," said Moylan.
The podcast will explore the case, who Yasser was, and how detectives have been investigating over the past 10 years.
APD says Yasser's parents are featured in at least one episode because they are hopeful this will help find their daughter's killer.
"They've been without answers for ten years. Speaking with them, I know that it hasn't been an easy ten years. They're still dealing with the loss. And I think they were up for trying something new," said Moylan.
The podcast will be five episodes, which allows APD to reveal much more about the case than they ever have before. They say they hope it will generate new and better leads.
"I think being able to go into greater detail about the case itself and what we've learned over the years, hopefully will …maybe jog somebody's memory," said Moylan.
The first episode of the podcast will be released on June 29th.
