32-year-old Carrie O'Brien Krueger vanished from Burlington, Wisconsin on December 6, 1989, after her husband Tracy spun an elaborate story about a last-minute trade show trip to Wyoming — a trip that didn't exist and that Carrie, whose job was tracking trade shows, would have known was fake. Tracy gave contradictory accounts, his own father said he'd mentioned the Wyoming trip a full day before Carrie supposedly got the call, and critical physical evidence — including bloody clothing found 16 miles away and a red sandy residue from Tracy's truck — was lost or thrown out by investigators, one of whom was reportedly a family friend of the Kruegers. The case remains unsolved, with investigator Tommy Sheret of Racine County now seeking public help to interpret two key clues.
Key Moments
Ashley Flowers
“It's what Tracy's own father tells police, which is that Tracy mentioned to him Carrie's Wyoming trip on Monday, December 4th. This is a full day before Carrie supposedly even got that late night call telling her that she needed to fill in.”
Ashley reveals the detail that most directly undermines Tracy's timeline and suggests the trip story was constructed in advance.
“The day after Tracy's never taken second polygraph, he is at work when he glances at a newspaper article about his missing wife and he just collapses. He's taken to the hospital, but the Tracy who arrives there says that it's 1979 and that the last 10 years of his life are just gone.”
Ashley describes the extraordinary moment Tracy was hospitalized claiming total amnesia covering exactly the years of his marriage to Carrie.
“The only part of his life he can't remember is the part that actually matters to this case and this missing woman who he was married to but doesn't remember.”
Ashley summarizes the striking coincidence of Tracy's amnesia covering precisely 1979–1989 — the decade of his relationship with Carrie.
“A detective just threw it out. What? He said he was cleaning house, getting rid of things that police didn't need for the investigation.”
Ashley reveals that the red sandy residue scraped from Tracy's truck — never tested — was discarded by a detective reportedly connected to the Krueger family.
Crime Junkie is a weekly true crime podcast hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat. Known for its conversational storytelling style, the show covers missing persons, unsolved murders, and cold cases — often amplifying stories that have gone unnoticed or unresolved for decades. With nearly nine years on air, it has grown into one of the most-listened-to true crime podcasts in the world.
Takeaways
1
Tracy's timeline contained a fatal self-contradiction Tracy claimed Carrie received a call on Tuesday night about a last-minute Wyoming trade show. But his own father told police Tracy had mentioned the Wyoming trip on Monday — a full day before that call supposedly happened. This suggests the story was fabricated in advance, not a reaction to a real event.
2
Critical physical evidence was discarded untested A red sandy residue scraped from Tracy's truck ceiling was thrown out by a detective before it could be analyzed — a detective who was reportedly a family friend of the Kruegers. Separately, bloody men's clothing with two bullet holes found 16 miles from Burlington was never properly logged or retained by Burlington PD.
3
Tracy's 'hysterical amnesia' covered only the decade that mattered After cancelling a second polygraph, Tracy collapsed at work and was hospitalized claiming it was 1979 — conveniently erasing all memory of his marriage to Carrie and their daughter Megan. Doctors found no physical cause such as a stroke, yet evaluators largely concluded he wasn't faking, citing how his memory fragments surfaced in clinically accurate patterns.
4
Forged signatures may have funded Tracy's pre-disappearance spending Investigators suspected Carrie's signature was forged on paperwork for a truck Tracy secretly bought in June 1989, since she wasn't present at the purchase. A second mortgage taken out on the Krueger home in October 1989 also raised forgery questions — but Burlington PD never interviewed the notary or pulled the original loan documents before they were destroyed.
5
Carrie had joked she might be being poisoned — by Tracy In the 18 months before she vanished, Carrie suffered severe unexplained stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, and weight loss that doctors couldn't diagnose. Her sister Kathy asked her point-blank if she thought she was being poisoned, and Carrie had joked to a friend that maybe Tracy was responsible — a joke no one laughs at now.
6
Burlington PD investigative failures compounded over time Police delayed getting a search warrant until Tracy was hospitalized — by which point he had already replaced the couple's barely-used mattress with a waterbed and discussed carpet cleaning. The department also failed to follow up on forgery suspicions, lost bloody clothing evidence, and allowed a detective with alleged Krueger family ties to discard unanalyzed truck residue.