Dead Again | The Woman in the Woods

Erin Moriarty (0:00)

Hi, listeners, it's 48 Hours correspondent, Erin Moriarty.

This week, we're introducing 48 Hours listeners to the first two episodes of our new six-episode miniseries, The Woman in the Woods. Episode three releases this Wednesday, September 30th, on The Woman in the Woods podcast feed. Follow the series if you haven't already, so you don't miss an episode. Here's episode one.

Angela Nguyen (0:31)

They say that some people kind of have that light that just attracts you to them. That's how Mindi was. It was just hard to believe that someone we loved was in this type of situation.

Erin Moriarty (0:48)

Angela Nguyen had gone years without seeing her dear friend, Mindi Kassotis. Mindi had told her friends that she and her husband were on the run from a threat connected to his high security top secret work.

Angela Nguyen (1:02)

She was exhausted. She was tired. She was just ready for everything to be over.

Erin Moriarty (1:08)

But in the summer of 2022, Mindi told Angela she might finally be able to come out of hiding, and they could celebrate some good news.

Mindi was pregnant, she said. She and her husband, Nick, were expecting their first child, and maybe, just maybe, their lives could finally go back to normal.

Angela Nguyen (1:30)

She was going to have her husband. They'll have the baby.

They'll be, you know, she was coming to see me.

Erin Moriarty (1:37)

Mindi was 40 years old, a striking brunette with beautiful eyes and a boisterous laugh. Angela couldn't wait to catch up with her old friend and her husband.

Angela Nguyen (1:49)

They were both very happy to be expecting.

Erin Moriarty (1:53)

When is the last time you had contact with her, Angela?

Angela Nguyen (1:56)

That October.

Erin Moriarty (1:58)

But weeks passed without any word from Mindi.

That's when Angela messaged Mindi's husband, Nick. She got a response on Instagram.

Angela Nguyen (2:09)

He was like, hey, can I call you?

And I'm like, you don't have to ask that. Just pick up the phone and call. And so he called me and that's when he told me that Mindi was gone.

Erin Moriarty (2:23)

Gone?

Angela Nguyen (2:25)

That she had died in hospital. He was crying.

Erin Moriarty (2:30)

Nick told Angela that Mindi had suffered a brain aneurysm and that they'd lost the baby.

There would be no funeral arrangements, he said. Angela offered to help him organize any celebration for Mindi, but didn't hear back from him.

Angela Nguyen (2:48)

He just dropped off the face of the earth.

Erin Moriarty (2:50)

Angela couldn't let it go and reached out to Mindi's family. What was happening? She received a message from Mindi's mom in February 2023

And her mother tells you what?

Angela Nguyen (3:05)

He had gotten into an accident and succumbed from his injuries two days later in the hospital.

Erin Moriarty (3:10)

Now Nick was dead too? The idea that Mindi and her husband had died within months of each other just didn't add up for Angela.

Angela Nguyen (3:22)

I'm going to be perfectly honest in saying that at that point, I did not feel comfortable with what I knew.

And I said to myself, like, what do you do when you're in a situation and you feel like something is wrong, but also the entire story is so crazy, who's going to believe you? And then a month later is when I got a call from Detective Stans.

Erin Moriarty (3:48)

Law enforcement had found human remains in the woods outside of Savannah. They believed it was Mindi Kassotis.

Angela Nguyen (3:58)

I honestly was in a bit of disbelief.

Erin Moriarty (4:02)

How was it possible that Mindi Kassotis could have died not once, but twice?

Angela Nguyen (4:09)

I had been lied to for years. We had all been lied to for years.

Erin Moriarty (4:14)

I'm Erin Moriarty. From 48 Hours, this is The Woman in the Woods. A strange mystery where the dead reappear, the living disappear, and at least one man may have never existed at all.

Episode One, Dead Again.

Morgan Paddock (4:41)

I met Mindi in high school in about 1996-ish.

Erin Moriarty (4:46)

Morgan Paddock first met Mindi when they were teenagers.

Morgan Paddock (4:51)

She had moved to Louisiana and we went to rival high schools, but we were in the same youth group together.

Erin Moriarty (4:58)

Mindi and Morgan were part of the same church youth group in Covington, Louisiana. Morgan remembers that Mindi never missed Bible study.

Morgan Paddock (5:08)

She was raised in a Christian home. Her dad was a music minister. We sang in youth choir together. She loved to sing. She had a beautiful voice.