Chased Through the Woods in Panola County: The Strange Death of Lauren Thompson

In the shadowed underbrush of Panola County's dense forests, a mystery as perplexing as the twisted pines unfolded with the disappearance of Lauren Elizabeth Thompson. This case, which has haunted the East Texas Timberlands since January 2019, serves as the focal point for an episode of "Box in the Basement," a podcast dedicated to shining a light on Texas' coldest cases and the families left grappling in the dark.

Lauren, a 32-year-old mother of three, vanished without a trace, her last known moments captured in a frantic 911 call where she claimed she was being chased through the woods by an unseen assailant. Despite a massive search effort that spanned over 2,000 acres, Lauren remained a whisper among the leaves until July 2022, when a logging crew stumbled upon human skeletal remains later identified as hers through dental records. The discovery brought a tragic end to the search but opened a new chapter of questions that "Box in the Basement" hosts Arlene and Leah, themselves touched by unsolved tragedy, seek to explore.

The podcast delves deep into the heart of Lauren's story, from her final, panic-stricken phone call to her mother, expressing regret and a desire to turn her life around, to the chilling details of her last conversation with emergency services. Lauren's disappearance and subsequent death cast a long shadow over Panola County, a region already steeped in mystery and the unknown. 

Arlene and Leah's investigation also scrutinizes the swirling rumors and theories that emerged in the wake of Lauren's disappearance. From speculations of mental illness to dark insinuations of a cover-up within the Sheriff's office, the podcast leaves no stone unturned. The hosts' empathetic approach provides a voice to the voiceless, offering a platform for speculation, analysis, and, most importantly, remembrance.

Listeners are invited to join the quest for answers, not just in Lauren's case, but in all cases tucked away in the basements of Texas' law enforcement agencies. Through engaging storytelling and rigorous investigation, "Box in the Basement" aims to ignite a flame of awareness and advocacy, hoping to illuminate the path toward resolution for families ensnared in the agony of not knowing.

In remembering Lauren Elizabeth Thompson, "Box in the Basement" advocates for the power of community in confronting the abyss of the unknown, urging a collective push for transparency, accountability, and ultimately, justice. Join Arlene and Leah as they journey through the heart of darkness to find the light of truth, one case at a time.

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• Leon Laurales: Website & GoFundMe
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Transcript

Bree: 0:00

Please be advised this episode contains detailed discussions of violence and may not be suitable for all listeners.

Arlene: 0:08

In July of 2022 in a rural part of Panola county, Texas, a logging crew. I found what they believed to be human skeletal remains. On December 13, 20, 22. The Panola county Sheriff's office announced that these remains had been identified through dental records as those of 32 year old Lauren Elizabeth Thompson. Who had been missing since January 10th. 2019. Hello, and welcome to box in the basement podcast. I'm your host, Arlene.

Leah: 1:13

And I'm Leah.

1:14

In 1996, my world was shattered when my uncle Leon Lorella is. Was shot execution style and a small town in Texas. To this day, his murder remains unsolved. And the pain of that injustice continues to haunt me, my family and Leon's friends and coworkers. Here at box in the basement. We want to shed light on the overwhelming number of unsolved murders and disappearances here in Texas and beyond. Ultimately, we want to get justice for Leon. And for all the victims whose cases are sitting, collecting dust in a box, in a basement. 2019 is the last year in what I call the before times before COVID-19 shut the world down and changed life. As we know it. Anti-government protesters in Hong Kong, clashed violently with police. Brexit was on everyone's economic and political radar. A large portion of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, burned and mass shootings in the us and abroad dominated the news cycle. 2019 was the year of the Christ church mosque shooting in New Zealand that killed 51. The El Paso Walmart shooting and the date and bar shooting. The us women's soccer team won its fourth world cup, the Toronto Raptors beat the golden state warriors for the NBA championship. The St. Louis blues beat the Boston Bruins for their first Stanley cup. The Washington nationals, beat the Houston Astros in the world series. And the new England Patriots beat the LA Rams in the Superbowl. Ariana Grande's. Thank you. Next was at the top of the billboard hot 100, the week of January 10th. Followed by Halsy Travis, Scott, and post Malone. Dan and Shay topped the billboard hot country charts all month. Aqua man was number one at the box office and John Grisham's. The reckoning was at the top of the New York times bestseller list. Panola county, Texas is a small county. With a population sitting at just under 23,000 people. It's in east, Texas on the border with Louisiana. And was originally developed for cotton plantations and other agricultural projects. That use the labor of enslaved African-Americans. The word Panola in fact is derived from a Choctaw word for cotton. Texas, as we know is a big state. And it's geography and climate are pretty varied. This part of Texas is known as the east Texas Timberlands region. And is pretty green. A big contrast from the arid dusty part of Texas, we currently live in. Oil was first discovered in Panola county in 1917. Stabilizing the population decline in the region and bringing in new jobs. Today, there are still almost 950 farms and ranches in the region and logging an oil and gas continue to be the major moneymakers in the county.

Arlene: 4:24

At the time of Lauren Colvin Thompson's death, she was 32 years old and had three children. Then ages three, five, and nine. She was born on April 17th. 1986. And graduated from Palestine high school in 2004. Palestine is about. In 90 minute drive from Panola county. There isn't a whole lot of information about Lauren's life out there. But we do know she was a CNA and her friends and family described her as caring and compassionate. From the information we do have, Lauren seems to have gotten into some trouble with drugs. We'll find out from one of her final conversations that she swore to her mother that she'd never do drugs again. Texas as a whole has a drug problem.

5:14

And east Texas tends to be worse in terms of substance use and abuse than the rest of the state. There is an ongoing opiate epidemic in that part of the state. Though meth tends to be the most problematic drug. We don't know what drugs Lauren use. Nor does it really matter? That's just some generic background on drug abuse in the region, it was a problem. And it remains a problem as it does in many rural counties across the United States. Lauren Thompson/called her mother Tori Colvin. Who lives in Fort worth just before 2:00 PM on Thursday, January 10th, 2019. She sounded stressed out almost frantic. It was clear that something was very wrong. She wanted to speak to her children, but they were in school. And I'm assuming here that her children lived with her parents in Fort worth, or were at least staying with them for the time being. She also wanted to tell her father she loved him, but he wasn't available either. Tory later said that she could hear someone yelling at Lauren in the background on the phone call. It sounded like a man. Telling her that she didn't need to be on the phone with anyone. Lauren then apologized to her mother for some of her past decisions and said she wished she could be a stronger person. This is when her mother brings up the drug issue. She told her daughter that she could absolutely be a stronger person if she just stay out of trouble. Laura and then promised she'd never do drugs again. If she got out of the situation, she was currently in. At this point, Tori Colvin urged her daughter to call the police. If she felt unsafe. Lauren changed the subject and ended the call at 2:00 PM./...................

Arlene: 7:03

about 10 minutes after hanging up with her mother. Lauren called/9 1 1.......in a blown panic. Tell him the dispatcher. She was being chased through the woods,/by someone with a gun. Lauren couldn't give the dispatcher any helpful information about the area she was in and she wasn't familiar with her surroundings. But it definitely sounded as though she was running while making the call. The dispatcher was able to get an approximate location of Lauren's cell phone near the community of rock hill. And the Sheriff's deputies from Panola county/ race to the area.

7:38

Now Lauren was on the phone with nine one, one for 21 minutes. So law enforcement was hoping to get to the area where Lauren's cell phone pinged while she was still on the call. And to law enforcement's credit, they responded very quickly. Unfortunately deputies weren't able to locate Lauren at that time. She was hurt on the nine one one call talking to an unknown person. And then the call ended/abruptly. Some articles say here that the phone's battery died, but I'm not a hundred percent sure on that point. The dispatcher called Lauren's phone back several times, but she never answered. That was the last time anyone heard from her. When the deputy showed up at the area Lauren's cell phone was thought to be. They did find her vehicle very quickly and it was stuck in the mud on the side of farm to market road, 1794. Near rock hill. Though there was no sign of Lauren herself. While Lauren was still on the phone with nine one, one, these deputies we're able to make contact with some people Lauren had reported being with earlier in the day. Apparently. Lauren had planned to go fishing on the Sabine river with two other women and a man near where her car was found. Law enforcement spoke with the man in question. Who was actually in the car when Lauren ran it off the road and got stuck in the mud. And this was supposedly the result of some kind of confrontation. The women. Accompanying Laura and her male friend to the fishing spot. We're in a separate car and actually hit Lauren's car. Lauren's car got stuck in the ditch. And this smell friend said, he told Lauren he was going to walk to his house nearby. To get another vehicle and some tire chains. And this is when Lauren ran off into the woods. There's no information available about what the other two women were doing at this time. And no information about whether or not they'd hit Lauren's truck deliberately or accidentally. I find this odd that there's no information out there about this. Law enforcement did confirm the male friend was walking home. That much. We do know. You know what this reminds me of. 9 1, 1 dispatcher said that Lauren sounded disoriented and confused when she called. And when you combine that with the friend saying she just ran off into the woods. When the car got stuck. It's seriously reminds me of the brand and loss in case. If you know anything about that incident, Brandon Lawson also called 9 1 1 from the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, believing he was being chased. The call ended and he was never heard from again. You're right. It does sound a lot like the brand and the lesson case. Authorities organized search teams immediately. This was a heavily wooded area in the middle of nowhere. And it was going to take some serious manpower and time to search for one loss woman unfamiliar with her surroundings. A search team located one of Lauren's shoes fairly quickly. But there were no footprints visible near the shoe. And none of her other belongings were found nearby. Okay, hold on. What do you mean? There were no footprints. Was she carried away then. There were search and rescue teams from the Texas Rangers, Texas parks and wildlife, and the Texas forest service. Along with the Panola county Sheriff's department. Outlooking for Lauren. But not a trace was found. The ground teams covered around 2000 acres over the next week. And helicopter and drone crews covered an additional 9,000 acres from the air. But to no avail. As time marched on and the search continued into the spring. Both the ground and air search teams were hampered by weather. Rain made air search is difficult and muddy conditions and flooding made parts of the property where Lauren was thought to have disappeared. Impossible. I will make a note right here that there were no civilian volunteers involved in the search. The area in question was entirely on private property. And the owners didn't want to assume the risk of letting random strangers walk around. Well, I understand the concerns of a lawsuit. This is a woman that's Missy. How could the property owners not want to help? And while it may sound reasonable from a liability standpoint, this is very odd because you would think that Law enforcement. would want as much help. As they could get since time is of the essence in these situations. Lauren's family wrote to their state representative pointed out that the volunteer organizations. I had been allowed to participate in searches on private property in Texas, numerous times before. And her mother felt this was evidence that there was some kind of coverup or at least incompetence on the part of the Sheriff's office. And I tend to agree with her. Right. Personal injury law is not at all in my wheelhouse, but I would think that some kind of agreement would be standard between property owners and at least some of the better known volunteer organizations. Like EquiSearch and the Cajun Navy. Who are used to dealing with this kind of thing, but who knows? Maybe it was a matter of incompetence or laziness rather than malice. Unfortunately, all of those things can have the same effect on an investigation. So ECU search and the Cajun Navy and those organizations didn't participate at all. Not from what I could see. And that admittedly makes me a bit nervous given just how dense these woods can be and how nasty the terrain can get in that region of the state. But at the same time, going back to the brand and loss in case we mentioned earlier, I know they also ran into some difficulties getting law enforcement and private property owners on the same page. At the same time. It was a volunteer search team that discovered what our assumed at this point in time to be Brandon Lawson's remains. So I honestly don't know what to think. Maybe I'm making too much of it. I don't know. We're nearly four years. Lauren's family remained hopeful that she was still alive somewhere. That maybe she'd gotten herself into trouble. Or was being held against her. Will. But that she'd eventually get home. Her bank accounts went untouched. Social media was non-access. And her phone remained off or dead. No sign of her was found. No belongings were recovered and no contact had been made. On July 27th, 2022./ And logging crew working in the Northwestern part of Panola county. Discovered skeletal remains on a work site. Authorities use dental records to confirm that these remains belong to Lauren Thompson. And while no cause of death had been identified at this point. The Sheriff's department is on record saying there were no signs of criminal activity in the area where the remains were found. And that doesn't rule out the possibility that her body could have been laying there after her death. So what happened for in Thompson? One of the big hurdles in this case is the number of rumors going around about Lauren's life and her disappearance. A friend of Lauren's claimed that she'd been struggling with mental illness and that she'd repeatedly made calls to the police. Claiming people were chasing her when they weren't. That being said, we don't have any indication that she'd called police before for this kind of thing. At least investigators haven't publicly acknowledged that claim. That could be information we simply don't have access to, or it could be that it's simply not true. We don't know at this point. And let's keep in mind that people are going to say whatever they want friends or not. She may have been struggling with mental illness or maybe someone was just speculating. It doesn't seem like there was any ill intent here, but people say what they want. And of course, this doesn't mean that Lauren wasn't being chased the day she went missing. She went missing after all. But it did cause people in the community to question her motives. Was she actually in danger that day in January. Was she having a mental breakdown? Another rumor was that there was a conspiracy on the part of the Panola county Sheriff's office. Somewhere along the line, a claim was made that a relative of a Sheriff's office, detective. I had been with Lauren the day she went missing and the Sheriff's office in turn, covered up a crime to protect this relative. There's no evidence of this Laura named the three individuals she was with on that 9 1 1 call. And they were all interviewed by investigators. None of them. At least not to our knowledge named this alleged relative as being part of the fishing group that day. I suppose it's not totally out of the realm of possibility. Seeing how the nine one one call has never been made public. And it was the Panola county Sheriff's office doing the bulk of the investigating. But it seems unlikely given the information we do have the FBI and the Texas Rangers have been involved in the investigation at various points in time. And it would seem to necessitate a lot of subterfuge across the local state and federal levels to hide a single scumbag relative. The family brought in a private investigator in the summer of 2020. As the formal investigation, stalled and detectives hit dead end after dead end. Lauren smother voiced her frustration with the lack of movement on the case. And she believed not without reason that the Sheriff's office and the Texas Rangers simply weren't doing enough. She felt that both agencies. But the Rangers, especially how the resources and wherewithal to bring in additional support, to help search for Lauren. The Sheriff's office concluded fairly on that. It. It didn't appear that foul play was involved in Lauren's disappearance. It couldn't be ruled out entirely, of course, but there was simply no hard evidence to support any criminal activity. And I'd have to question that claim right off the bat. What do they mean by no evidence? No signs of a struggle, no blood, no weapons found. She called nine one. One saying that someone was chasing her. Whether or not the chasing part was true. The 9 1, 1 dispatcher and her own mother, both heard other people talking in the background on the calls. It has to be that the missing pieces that make this make more sense simply aren't public right now, because I'm confused. Yeah, I'm confused too. How can they rule out foul play? When she went missing while her friends were there with her? And she is dead. All of that sounds suspicious to me. The families PI listened to the nine one one call and he agreed with the Sheriff's office that it shouldn't be made public. Apparently it does contain some information that will be useful in a trial. Should it come to that? That being said, the PI disagreed with the Sheriff's office on the issues of foul play and concluded that Lauren had likely been kidnapped after reviewing the nine one one call her bank records and interviewing witnesses and associates. Kidnapped by who though? That's the question. The people she was with. We're all accounted for in cleared. The second vehicle that was known to be traveling with Lauren and her male friend. Was still at the scene. There was indeed evidence of a fender-bender between that car and Lawrence SUV. But no evidence of a kidnapping. At the same time, we don't have a clear answer on the fender bender. Nobody can say if it was an accident or intentional. But the two women in the car were there on the scene and were interviewed by police. So what the hell. It's just weird and doesn't make any sense. The long shot, I suppose, is that a third vehicle and other people were involved. And all three friends were lying when they said Lauren ran away from her car. Again, Not impossible, but it seems unlikely. Nothing made public indicates. Lauren had any enemies willing. Or able to take part in that kind of a thing. Is she'd been involved in drugs. It's probably safe to assume she'd made a few enemies. Or maybe owed some people money. But a three car kidnapping scheme involving at least four people and a cover. It seems like a big stretch. But we do have to concede that the PI had access to the records and calls that we know nothing about. It's entirely possible. There's information makes this a reasonable assumption that we just don't have at our disposal. There are so many holes and weird things about this part of the story. We just don't know. There's so much we don't know. And we'll probably never know. And that brings me back once again to the Brandon Lawson case. One of the more plausible theories in that case I've heard is that Brandon exited his vehicle in the middle of the night on a dark road in rural west Texas, for whatever reason. Wandered off. Got disoriented and then died of exposure on someone's property. I think that's a very real possibility here too. No information is given on exactly where Lauren's body was found in relation to where she went missing. But I think it's very possible. She ran or wandered far into the wooded area where her car was found. Got lost and then died. Maybe she died of exposure. It was January after all. And she was only dressed in a hoodie and leggings and she was missing a shoe. That brings me to the question of why no footprints were around where the shoe was found. Also, I'd like to know what kind of friends would let their friend runoff in a panic without chasing after her or trying to calm her down. Then stayed long enough to talk to law enforcement. This infuriates me and I don't need friends like that. No cause of death has been determined yet. Keep that in mind. Maybe she was having a mental break and that's why she was afraid for her life and ran. She had a history of drug use. So maybe she was using that day. And that's why she felt someone was chasing her. Maybe she fell and hit her head. And of course we aren't dismissing the possibility that someone was actually chasing her. But there just isn't a whole lot out there right now to support that theory. We know from information that has been released, that both Lauren's mother and the 9 1, 1 dispatcher heard other people's voices on the call, she made. We know that she sounded distressed, even panicked. We know that she believed she was in serious trouble, whether or not she actually was. We know the 9 1, 1 dispatcher heard her running. But we don't know anything else for certain. That may change as time goes on and the investigation continues. This is one story where I really want to get an update. As we mentioned earlier. This case is still being investigated. If you have any information related to Lauren Thompson's disappearance and or death. Please contact the Panola county Sheriff's office at 9 0 3 6 9 3. 0 3, 3, 3. This podcast has a bigger purpose than Just providing information and the entertainment. The homicide victims, families rights act is a bipartisan bill that was signed into law by Congress in 2021. And we want to see it put into action. This law establishes a systematic process for reviewing case files. Related to cold case murders. The focus is on providing a mechanism for the families and friends of murder victims. To request a formal review of such cases. We need an attorney or teams of attorneys and legal professionals To take on the bold and brave fight against the system around the country. In our case, we need someone to fight for Leon to help not only put fresh eyes on the case. But to get his body zoomed, to search for evidence that was not collected the first time around. We and other families and friends need assistance with getting foyer requests. It blows our minds that so many murders occurred from 1976 to 1997. In Brownwood, Texas under the watch of the same investigators, responsible for handling Leon's case. We're going to look at all the unsolved murders in Brownwood. And maybe even if you solved ones, if it helps uncover what was happening in that era that left so many families devastated. And a community living in fear. If you want to hear more about victim focused. Unsolved cases. And get updates about what we know. Please subscribe, like and share our podcast. Also visit our website. Justice for leon.com to donate to our cause to hire an attorney. You can also join our email list to stay current on developments on Leon's case and other cases. We cover as they happen. pleaSe follow and lagger. Bigger Facebook pages for box in the basement. And justice for Leon Corellas and follow our Instagram pages I'd also like to ask that you signed my petition for my uncle. Leon Lorella says case to be reopened and reviewed with fresh eyes. And you can find our petition on change.org. I also have a GoFundMe page to hire an attorney to help me get a copy of his autopsy. That I had been denied for 27 years. You can find the GoFund me by searching for Leon Lorella that's L a U R E L E S. I sincerely appreciate any and all help. thank you for joining us. Be kind later Gators.