'Up And Vanished' Season 2 Is 'A Deep Dive Into People'

Americans have long been fascinated by stories of young women -- usually pretty, usually white -- who go missing. As we say in the South, they “up and vanish.”

Atlanta filmmaker Payne Lindsey tapped into this national true crime past time with his 2016 investigative podcast about Tara Grinstead -- a 30-year-old South Georgia beauty queen and high school teacher whose 2005 disappearance went unsolved for over a decade.

Now, Lindsey is back with season 2 of his hit podcast “Up and Vanished.” He joined me via Skype from Colorado, where season 2 takes place.

GPB's Rickey Bevington interviews "Up And Vanished" co-creator Payne Lindsey about season 2 of the hit podcast.

RICKEY BEVINGTON: Why did you pick Kristal Anne Reisinger as your next podcast subject?

PAYNE LINDSEY: You know, I went through hundreds of cases, almost in the thousands…

In season one of Up and Vanished, we covered Tara Grinstead, who was a missing high school teacher and former beauty queen in south Georgia. The case of Kristal Anne Reisinger is different, because she was different.

I think that a lot of the news stations and the media in general tend to make a value judgement against some of the victims in cases like these, sort of like the “Missing White Woman” Syndrome. I think that Kristal is unique in the sense that she wasn't a teacher, she wasn't a beauty queen, she had all these tattoos…

She was into all these different things that mainstream people aren't in to.

BEVINGTON: Describe Crestone, Colorado, where Reisinger went missing.

LINDSEY: Crestone, Colorado is an amazing bizarre place. It is extremely remote. It's about three-and-a-half hours south of Denver, and it really is just in the middle of nowhere.

It's got all these little dirt roads, winding dirt roads that go up into these different spiritual temples. Basically any religion you can name it it's probably there. There's over 15 different spiritual centers and temples there, so it definitely attracts a very unique crowd.

BEVINGTON: And Reisinger was there for spiritual development, as her friends and family have described to you on the podcast. She was last seen at a drum circle. What were the circumstances around her disappearance?

LINDSEY: One of the biggest problems with this case is that her timeline of when she went missing is very gray to law enforcement and even her friends and family. But the last known time that she was seen was at this full moon drum circle. Every month in Crestone, when there's a full moon this group of people get together on top of this mountain. And they have a fire, they play instruments, they have drums, they have food… and basically sing and dance into the night under the light of a full moon.

So this was the last time anyone could really place Kristal somewhere.

BEVINGTON: And I should clarify for listeners Kristal Anne Reisinger was 29 when she disappeared two years ago, and I've purposely not used her age because she may still be alive, in which case she would be in her early 30s.

So I have to credit you, Payne, for being sensitive about that. What can audiences expect to be different with season 2 than with season 1 and the case of Tara Grinstead in terms of your production.

LINDSEY: Personally, I think it sounds better. We've built a bigger stronger team to make this podcast since season 1. The characters in this story are in some ways wildly different. This is a world in a place that a lot of people, most people even, are unfamiliar with.

It’s also very scary at times. There's this really strong sense of light and dark, lightness and darkness, in this place. I think that the podcast does a great job of telling you that.

BEVINGTON: Payne, where did you grow up in Georgia?

LINDSEY: I grew up in Kennesaw.

BEVINGTON: The reason I ask you that question is because I wonder if you're somewhat of a modern day Southern Gothic author of the early part of the last century. Like a Flannery O'Connor, or Carson McCullers, where there's something about being a Southerner and your storytelling is steeped in this mystery and magic.

And now in the digital age, you're doing this on podcasts and on documentaries and on video and audio.

What do you think?

LINDSEY: Now you're probably right. I really like creating these worlds for people. And what’s really special about season 2 of Up and Vanished is that this is an entire world that we've created with all these different sounds, and this music, and these people, these characters… all these different storylines that are intersecting.

And if this were to be a scripted movie, and I were to write a script, and I was there to cast the characters, every character you could imagine exists here in real life.

It's really sort of deep dive into people. I think that part of it is really interesting, and I just love to create this world that people can fall in love with, even if the premise of it is something dark.