Oswego State senior journalism major Ryan Zalduondo spent the past two semesters investigating a 25-year-old kidnapping cold case, working with NPR affiliate WRVO Public Media to produce a podcast and release the first of four episodes Wednesday, April 3.

A fan of true-crime podcasts, Zalduondo got the idea in December 2017 to look into the case when he passed the gas station in New Haven, New York, that 18-year-old Heidi Allen was kidnapped from in 1994. He decided to pursue the idea in October for the 25th anniversary of her abduction.

“[The podcast] spans from the morning she was kidnapped until present day and all of the people who got caught up in it in the years in between,” Zalduondo said.

In October, he approached assistant visiting professor Catherine Loper, with whom he had taken three journalism classes, and explained his idea to her. Prior to working at Oswego State, Loper worked full time at WRVO as news director and still contributes to the station as a host for the health segment, Take Care. She encouraged him to pitch the idea to the radio station. 

Loper had covered the updates of the case when the second round of proceedings occurred a few years ago and she was news director, so she was better able to help guide him in revising his scripts. She said Zalduondo fully immersed himself in the research of the case, reading every news article he could find and exploring every nook and cranny.

“Ryan’s always been a good student, but he really dug into this project,” Loper said. “He really sunk his teeth into it and researched it in ways that we don’t in the normal course of a semester.”

Loper said she believes Zalduondo has gained important real-world skills that he will be able to take into his professional career as a journalist when he graduates in May.

WRVO News Director Jason Smith had wanted to do something for the 25th anniversary of the Heidi Allen case, and Senior Producer Mark Lavonier said it was “a match made in heaven” when Zalduondo pitched the idea. Zalduondo’s team for the podcast included Web Producer Leah Landry, Lavonier, Loper and Smith.

“They all were very helpful from the beginning; they all believed in it, and now, it’s happening,” Zalduondo said.

Zalduondo spent the past two semesters and winter break contacting those involved in the case, interviewing them and then putting it all together.

“Ryan has worked extremely hard for anyone, not just a student, and how much of his life, he has dedicated to getting all the scripts done and doing all the research,” Lavonier said. 

Smith said he has not had many students work at WRVO with the same dedication to a project as Zalduondo, as Zalduondo used much of his free time away from classes to work on a story he volunteered to do.

“It’s hard for anyone to do a project over a period of months,” Loper said. “Momentum gets lost usually along the way, so the fact that he was able to keep going on this through two different semesters, over breaks and accomplish this podcast is really impressive.”

Lavonier, who composed the music for the podcast, said he enjoyed teaching Zalduondo the technical aspects of reporting with audio equipment. Lavonier also recorded Zalduondo’s voice and pieced together the audio clips he had recorded during his interviews. 

The key challenge Zalduondo faced, according to Smith, was the transition from reporting for print media to radio production.

“He doesn’t have what you would describe as a typical radio voice,” Smith said. “I’ve had a chance to listen to the finished episode one. I think he overcame that very well. Like Mark has assured me through this whole process, the quality of his voice isn’t going to bother you, and it doesn’t.”

Both Lavonier and Smith grew up in the area of the kidnapping and agreed that revisiting the story is important for the community to remember what happened. 

“This is a very small community that was turned upside down for decades over this, and as the pain and the shock started to fade away, it all came back a couple of years ago when the supposed new evidence allegedly came out,” Smith said. “It’s an important story to tell that people need to know.”

There will be an additional three episodes released April 10, April 17 and April 24, and all can be accessed on the WRVO website.

Photo provided by Ryan Zalduondo