He Walked Into That Bathroom and Never Came Out - Episode 73

The Foot in the Adidas Shoe: The Disappearance and Death of Francesca Alvarado

A fisherman pulled a size 5.5 black Adidas high-top from the water at Corson's Inlet State Park in August 2013. Inside it was a skeletal foot, toenails still showing traces of colored polish. Francesca Alvarado had been missing for seventeen months. The homicide investigation that followed exposed a trafficking network, a violent boyfriend, and a last witness who lawyered up within twenty-four hours and was never charged.

In this episode, we explore the unexplained hotel room switch Tracy Williams requested the night Francesca vanished, the discovery of Francesca's ID and EBT card left behind in her bedroom after police had already searched it, and the deposition testimony suggesting a federal informant pointed investigators directly at Will Coit's involvement. Was Francesca's disappearance the result of a violent confrontation on a New Jersey beach, or did a trafficking network silence her before she could leave? The forensic science and the legal record pull in directions that have never been fully reconciled.

Case Details

Victim: Francesca Alvarado, 22, Philadelphia resident and mother of a 3-year-old daughter, approximately 8 weeks pregnant at the time of her disappearance.

Date: March 18, 2012.

Location: Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.

Case Status: Unsolved. Francesca was officially declared dead in January 2016 with cause of death listed as undetermined. No one has been charged in connection with her disappearance or death. The case remains active with the New Jersey State Police cold case unit.

Episode Key Points

- Tracy Williams refused a polygraph, hired an attorney, and went silent within twenty-four hours of Francesca's disappearance — before she was even officially reported missing.

- Francesca's ID and EBT card were found in her bedroom by her sister Mia after police had already conducted their search of the room and cleared it.

- Court deposition testimony in a civil trafficking lawsuit suggested that convicted sex trafficker Jarrell Jackson provided the FBI with evidence pointing to Will Coit's involvement in Francesca's death.

- Three separate bones — a foot, a femur, and a tibia — washed ashore across fifteen miles of New Jersey coastline over a span of six months, each confirmed by DNA as Francesca's.

Francesca Alvarado, Atlantic City New Jersey disappearance, Philadelphia missing person 2012, New Jersey cold case homicide, Corson's Inlet remains recovery, true crime, homicide, investigation, forensic science, murder, criminal minds, unsolved mysteries, true crime English.