Steve has been really encouraging me to continue, and that kind of badgering certainly helps, as does the kind words from all of you guys on here. So, thank you.
In full transparency, the schedule I laid out initially (five episodes, once a month, from June to October) wasn't set arbitrarily. I work full time for a non-profit as one of a two person staff. My boss is gearing up for a thoroughly deserved 3 month sabbatical (after 10 years of fighting the good fight & making our community a better place), and as a result, I'll be at the helm starting in a few weeks through the end of the year. It's more than a full time job already that comes with it's own stresses and whatnot... so when it's just me, my time and energy will be extremely limited.
That said, Steve and I are committed to working together to come up with additional content in the mean time that would be less time consuming for me than the 30 min episodes.
I'll likely be back in 2019 for a new "season" (of sorts),
IF no one else has picked the case up... and of course, that's the ideal situation; that a well respected journalist or national network swoops in and takes on this case. I feel now, more than ever, that there's a lot here to report on and I will personally be continuing to work on getting others to cover the case.
If you could,
PLEASE do the same. The more people reach out and request that networks, podcasters, journalists, documentarians, cover this case, the more they will realize how interested people are in seeing the case examined. For them, this is their livelihood, and they really have to know if a topic would be of interest to their audience before they sink resources into it. This Matt's case, unlike many other cold case murders, has next to nothing out there about it (i.e. no court documents, no announced suspects, no search warrants, etc). It's much easier and safer for the kind of professional we'd like to dive into Matt's case to instead cover other more accessible cases.
So, we need to REALLY need to cast a wide net, and REALLY need to sell it to them.
No response yet from Leah Egan. However, one quick thing you guys can do is call the Nancy Grace phone line and leave a message asking her producers to cover Matt's case. The number for her show is (909) 492-7463
What about Payne Lindsey? You mentioned in one of your episodes that you were inspired to create your podcast after listening to "Up and Vanished". Maybe you could contact him and persuade him into covering this case on Matt Stewart?