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Trace Evidence

246 - The Disappearance of Mary "Bobo" Shinn

Trace Evidence

Steven Pacheco

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.74.2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2025

⏱️ 176 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mary "Bobo" Shinn was a well liked, friendly and talented artist and teacher living in her native Magnolia, Arkansas.  Teaching classes out of a small art studio she purchased north of the town square, she made strong connections with many people, both children and adults, as she guided them to find their artistic abilities.

On Thursday, July 20th, 1978, the twenty-five year old was supposed to get together with friends when she received a call from a man interested in purchasing a house she'd recently remodeled.  Bobo agreed to pick the man up, since his car was in the shop, and left her art studio.  She was spotted around town several times and then she mysteriously vanished.

Her car was found abandoned in a grocery store parking lot hours later.  The keys dangled from the ignition and scratches and scrapes suggested the vehicle had been driven off road.  Despite an assortment of eye witnesses, no one has ever been able to identify the man Bobo was seen with that afternoon and nearly 50 years later her case remains open.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

On the morning of Thursday, July 20th, 1978, 25-year-old Magnolia, Arkansas resident Mary Bobo Shin had big plans.

0:19.8

After teaching a children's art class at her studio north of the city,

0:23.6

she planned to get together with friends, play tennis, and lounge out by the pool. However,

0:29.0

when an unknown man called about taking a look at a house that she had listed for sale,

0:34.3

Bobo put her plans on hold. The caller, who she never identified by name, explained that

0:40.1

his car was in the shop and he'd need to take a taxi to meet the young woman. But when Bobo heard this,

0:45.9

she told the man not to worry and that she'd come pick him up from a local convenience store.

0:51.4

Over the course of the next 30 minutes, she was spotted in several places in and around the

0:56.2

city behind the wheel of her custom blue 1976 Buick special.

1:02.4

Hours later, friends and family grew concerned when they hadn't heard or seen the 25-year-old.

1:08.7

After her mother went out searching, Bobo's car was located abandoned

1:12.8

in the parking lot of a grocery store. The windows were down, the doors unlocked. The keys

1:18.7

dangled from the ignition, and the young woman's purse had been dumped out all over the passenger

1:23.4

seat. A pair of white shoes were found on the floorboard of the driver's side, slightly tucked

1:29.3

up beneath the brake and accelerator. The car was scratched up, covered in dust, pine needles,

1:35.5

and grass seeds. There was no sign of Bobo anywhere. For more than 40 years, the disappearances

1:42.8

haunted not just her family, but also local law

1:45.9

enforcement and the entire city of Magnolia. While some believe the artist and budding house

1:51.9

flipper may have been selected at random by a total stranger from an ad she'd placed in the paper,

1:58.0

others believe she was likely targeted by a local, someone who knew Bobo,

2:02.6

knew the lay of the land, and knew exactly what to do.

2:06.9

Was it a case of a kidnapping gone wrong, a targeted and well-planned-out abduction,

...

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