Rainwalker: The Lost Boy

Dec 05 2024 11 ep. 33 mins 53
Rainwalker: The Lost Boy Podcast artwork

On Nov. 1, 2007, a 12-year-old boy named Jaliek Rainwalker went missing in upstate New York. His adoptive father was the last person to see him alive. The case was ruled a probable homicide, but no one has ever been charged. Times Union journalists reopen the cold case to search for answers.

  True Crime  Society & Culture
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Bonus episode 3: Bones

Dec 05 2024 51 mins  
The discovery of human remains in South Troy, New York, fuels speculation about what may have happened to Jaliek Rainwalker. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bonus Episode 2: Stranger Danger

Jan 16 2024 45 mins  
The abduction of a 9-year-old girl in Saratoga County late last year made national headlines. She went missing the evening of Sept. 30 while riding her bicycle alone in a New York State park campground. State Police issued an Amber Alert, and along with the FBI and other local authorities, conducted a massive two-day search of the park and surrounding area. Police found the girl ne

Bonus Episode 1: No Body

May 16 2023 35 mins  
There have been no updates in the investigation of Jaliek Rainwalker’s disappearance since late June 2022, when a tip launched a search near some ballfields in Troy, New York — more than 30 miles south of the upstate New York town where Jaliek was last seen. After 15 years, law enforcement insists the boy’s presumed homicide is still an active case. But they’ve never named

7. Colfax Mountain

Feb 28 2023 29 mins  
The search continues for Jaliek Rainwalker 15 years after he disappeared. Students from the College of Saint Rose Cold Case Analysis Center recently explored a property in Washington County they believe could provide clues about what happened to Jaliek. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6. Marker 30

Feb 21 2023 36 mins  
Four months after his disappearance, a bizarre note sent to local media says Jaliek is alive. But there’s no proof to accompany it. The investigation takes several twists and turns, stretching out over 15 years. The case is classified as a probable homicide, but no suspects have been named and no body has been found. Yet law enforcement agencies insist it’s still a very active

5. Black and Missing

Feb 14 2023 34 mins  
About 38 percent of missing children in America are Black, yet their cases receive disproportionately less media coverage and law enforcement attention than missing white children, according to the Black and Missing Foundation. The initial days of the investigation into Jaliek Rainwalker’s disappearance saw his case treated as a runaway by both law enforcement and his parents. Bu

4. The Yellow Fleece

Feb 07 2023 33 mins  
It was winter in upstate New York, and the child on the school playground wasn’t wearing a coat. A concerned teacher sent him to the nurse’s office, where they found him a yellow fleece jacket to wear. That piece of outerwear would play a crucial role in the search for the boy after he went missing. On this episode, recollections of Jaliek Rainwalker’s life with Jocelyn McDon

3. A Boy's Life

Jan 31 2023 32 mins  
Jaliek Rainwalker’s life was not an easy one. Born to a drug- and alcohol-addicted mother, he was placed in foster care immediately. He would live with 5 foster families before he landed with Jocelyn McDonald and Stephen Kerr, the Washington County couple that adopted him in 2003. He was diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder, a behavioral condition that makes it hard for ch

2. It's Green-WITCH, not Gren-ITCH

Jan 24 2023 30 mins  
The upstate New York village of Greenwich is tight-knit and proud. But it’s also haunted. People on the streets of the sleepy town on the Battenkill River remember the disappearance of Jaliek Rainwalker in 2007, and the story doesn’t sit well with them. A group of Greenwich residents and others formed during the pandemic to keep interest in the case alive, and they’re determi

1. Red Robin

Jan 17 2023 35 mins  
More than 15 years ago, Katie Bonesteel was a waitress at a Red Robin Restaurant in upstate New York. She was in her first weeks on the job, and she wasn’t yet sure of herself. On the evening of Nov. 1, 2007, she messed up an order. It was the order for Jaliek Rainwalker and his adoptive father Stephen Kerr. Days later, Katie was called in to talk to New York State Police, only t