Gretchen Fleming disappeared on December 3rd 2022 my mother-in-law came into the house and she said I haven’t seen Gretchen something’s wrong we’re going to go drive around to every bar in town until we can figure out what’s going on she wouldn’t just take off and disappear
This is not normal what happened to her her family is desperate for answers my husband’s like I found her purse like what do you mean he found her purse and he’s like it was returned to the bar a week ago I’m like oh this is not good
When I opened up her purse I saw her face disappeared retraces Gretchen’s last known steps we did run into some of Gretchen’s friends that mentioned that she left with a guy this just wasn’t a missing person’s case something bad happened we all briefed and decided it would be all
Hands- on deck at this point investigation in my mind fou Ploy has happened I think he thinks he’s Above the Law I think he thinks that he’s Untouchable and I’m really scared for whose little girls next the more people who know Gretchen’s Story the greater the chance of bringing her
Home share on social media get the word out help find her have you is still missing Parkersburg is a small town and everybody knows everybody and it’s a great place to grow up and it’s a very tightened Community neighbors looked after neighbors pretty much all growing up with gret and I
Never locked the side door the side door we close We R bikes a lot we had a tandem bicycle and she would hang on the back while I pedal and steered and she was involved in sports and she was real involved with church and just lots of activities with friends
And being a child Gretchen’s mom and I ended up splitting up when Gretchen was a child they didn’t have a super close relationship but they still talked occasionally I was Raising Gretchen Emma her sister on her own and then I met my wife Jennifer I’m Jennifer Flynn was was
Right after she turned 14 and I don’t think she was really excited that her dad had a girlfriend and then I brought in twin babies that were three and then it wasn’t very long after that that I got pregnant with our child together she was just a teenager um but
Whenever she needed something she always came to me in high school gritchen had had her friends and and they were into you know doing their thrift shopping and putting their outfits together and doing their makeup and and she was real involved with clubs at school and she had a book
In her hand and Doc Martin’s on her feet she wasn’t really sure what she wanted to do in life but she knew she wanted to get to a bigger city her goal was to move to North Carolina Charlotte Raleigh area and live down there and start her own chapter of
Life so after graduating high school she moved down to North Carolina like she had always dreamed of I don’t know that she really knew exactly what she wanted to do but she was trying to figure it out and just being a young um yeah I didn’t worry about her she was
Resourceful he was kind of just feeling it out and and just working jobs just to to pay rent and be social I guess more than anything she was young enough that she wasn’t really career oriented yet and uh she was just enjoying being a young vibrant person and and and enjoying the
Lifestyle down there with other young people um she had different jobs so one job didn’t work out she would find another job she was that kind of free spirit where she didn’t worry about it she was going to figure it out and I think that’s pretty
Neat met a boy and uh they hit it off really well and uh he lived in Charleston so she moved back to Charleston with him and he was working a job in Charleston with him and they dated for probably about a year or so and they actually talked
About even getting married and then I don’t really know why but they went their separate ways that just kind of put her in a bad place understandably so then she came back to parkerburg she was kind of in a lost place when she moved back to parkerburg and moving with my
Mom cuz we have still four kids in the house and I don’t think she wanted to deal with the chaos of of our house she didn’t want part of that I wouldn’t have either 27 years old you know so it made sense to go to Nana’s Gretchen didn’t have a driver’s license
Reg Gretchen used to say well why drive I can get an Uber or I’ll go with friends it just never was something she wanted to do so n and papa could run her around wherever she needed to go it just made sense while she was struggling with a
Breakup she still went and found a job at a department repairing herself to do that since she was living with Nana and Papa they’re older and kind of set in their ways and they had rules and you know I think it was 10:00 was the time
That if she wasn’t home by then the door was locked and she knew that so she had stay with friends and it wasn’t uncommon for her to stay with friends for a weekend three or 4 days they take her back and forth to work you know she had
A bag like that that she put her person and her clothes and her belongings and she would just go couch surf or hang out with friends or whatever for a few days at a time so the last time I saw Gretchen was Thanksgiving evening we always have all of our family
Get together um ant’s uncles probably 50 people and too small of the house I had just taken a new job as a middle school wrestling coach I had just started that following week and that weekend I was actually out of town so the following week I sent her a
Couple texts and she didn’t reply right away but I like I said I didn’t think much about it I I was busy all an open line of communication between me and Gretchen she didn’t respond to my text one day normally it would be the next
Day cuz her phone was dead and or she had lost her phone and and then she would immediately respond right back to me sometimes we’d talk a couple times a week on the phone sometimes we’ go a week or week and a half without talking on the
Phone so December 11th David and I were at the house when there was a knock at the door and it was my mother-in-law and she came into the house and she said said I’m worried I haven’t talked to after her off for work and she told me she
Wouldn’t be coming home that night it was Saturday night she was going to get off work and go hang out with friends and so she said you know a few days went by and I didn’t worry about it or think about it much because that’s just common
You know she goes and hangs out with friends she said when it got to Thursday she started getting a little bit concerned by Friday she hadn’t heard from her Saturday she was really worried so Sunday she came to our house and she said you know something’s
Wrong David tried to call her I tried to call her and me texting of course nothing and now that I can’t see straight I’m I’m I’m just a train wreck and told Jen I said get in the car with me I said we’re going to go drive drive
Around to every bar in town every establishment hangout I’m going to show pictures until we can figure out what’s going on well one of the places that greton liked to go was called the front row when it’s a little bar kind of restaurant establishment immediately I go over to
The front row and I ask the bartender and I show her a picture of Gretchen and I said have you seen her here lately and she said yes she was here last so she hand me her purse and when I opened up inside of her
Her purse I saw her phone her ID and her credit card now I’m scared David he’s like I found her purse like what do you mean you found her purse and he’s like it was returned to the front row a week ago I’m like oh this is not good at
All when the bartender mentioned that she left with a a guy and I think because I found the purse I’m scared I’m thinking in my head this just wasn’t a missing person’s case something happening to some of Gretchen’s friends that had hung out with her previously and that’s when they mentioned that she
Left with a guy they were going down to MyWay Lounge for karaoke night so that kind of put us on the trail of of heading to the my way and seeing what they knew down there well the the same DJ for karaoke night was there and he was the one that kind
Of told us that she was there that night she came with the guy that she came from the front row with and his name was John we need to find him we ended up at the front row which is where the purse was found and we ran into some friends acquaintance of hers
That said yes they had seen her there she had left and went to the MyWay Lounge they actually said her friend John drove her to the mayway and I we didn’t know him or where he lived before they pass like that she didn’t have the best relationship with
Her own mom I think it was a little overwhelming for her and after that with her and her boyfriend breaking up she was kind of in a lost place when she moved back to Parkersburg and and that was where she really just needed a time out well a lot of bad things had
Happened she hadn’t lost hope you know she was struggling and trying to figure things out but she was going out with friends and having fun she was working jobs and uh you know kind of going out to uh the the bars here in town you know there a lot of
Young people gather there so you know she didn’t have a whole lot of friends still here because you know she’s 28 equals we started at the front row trying to get some answers to what happened and that’s when we found our purse so we go home and in the purse is
Her phone her tablet her ID her debit card her credit card her hairbrush a bottle of water you know all of her belongings are in her purse so so she had an iPhone so we took the iPhone and we plugged it in there’s no passcode on
It so we get on the phone I start going through all of her messages all of her social media in the last contact panic mode at that point we start going through her contacts we start calling people when’s the last time you saw her do have you heard from her and nobody
Had heard from or seen her since that December 3rd so we plugged in her tablet as well we went through that there was nothing there girl doesn’t leave her person not go look for it the next few days that that’s just not normal so the next morning we went straight to the police
Station and filed a missing person’s report I’m James zberman and I’m a detective with the Parkersburg Police Department I have been investigating gret slman case since December 12th 2022 typically when we have a Mrs person typically locate you know within a short amount of time with Gretchen’s C you
Know what uh kind of concerned us from the beginning was that the family had located her purse and her cell phone and the length of time that the the family has communicated with Gretchen was concerning my name is Matthew bour I am the chief of police for the city of
Parkerburg in West Virginia my initial thought was you know it it was concerning you try not to jump to conclusions but after a conversation you know it was agreed upon you this would be an all hands- on Deck kind of circumstance I started reaching out to our local hospital our local shelters
Officers had any contact with her since December 3rd we had not I had my uh Lieutenant post a picture of Gretchen on our Facebook page immediately within the next 24 hours there was over a th shares of her image that she was missing our family our friends our
Community anybody that has any contact with us has shared over and over and over they’ve had their own posts again it’s a small town this hits home with everyone in parkerburg because it could be their niece or their daughter or their granddaughter or their sister or
Their cousin it hits in this town that knows us they may not know Gretchen but somebody knows our some of our family based on my Witnesses statements they believe that Gretchen had left with a male named John speaking with him he told me that they started their night off at front row from there Gretchen had mentioned going to MyWay Lounge for karaoke so they stopped there that evening he mentioned that when they traveled from Front Row to my way she had left her
Purse and cell phone in his vehicle she never brought it into the that he couldn’t find Gretchen uh he started canvas in the downtown area was able to locate her he returned back to MyWay seeing if she had came back while he was out looking for her she had not he then
Went home and later that day he returned the purse to Front Row baller hoping that she would visit there the reason he returned the purse to the front R was he didn’t know where gussian lived and you know she didn’t have her cell with her that was a place
That she typically would visit and he his thought process was that she would go back there and get her purse he was really upset and worried he said you know he told us he said I came out and she was gone John I I know he didn’t have
Anything to do with it I’ve spoken with him he he was just as freaked out as I am as a father you know because he was the one that took her there I know he felt a lot of responsibility you know because she didn’t leave with him and
And you know I think he just felt responsible that he couldn’t find her he was completely cooperated with the police room cuz he didn’t have anything to hide every day is just you never know what’s going to be thrown at you I mean we are all walking on eggshells we are
All sick to our stomachs over this and again we have children we have a 19-year-old we have the next morning you the my way Lounge the owners they contacted me on Facebook and sent me a private message and said that they have them video surveillance if I would like to come and
Watch it so of course I said yes so I grabbed my wife and we go down there at lunch time and we asked to see the video and it shows Gretchen innocently just sitting at the end of the bar by herself the friend that she had came with was
Like a couple seats down and he was talking to a couple other people and she was kind of just sitting there by herself well then comes in the picture a man out of the gambling room he stands beside her and ends up bringing her a drink then they end up and then they
Come out of the gambling room and the man ends up walking out the door and she’s walking right behind them John ends up going to the bathroom so when Gretchen comes out of the gambling room to leave he was actually in the bathroom so he didn’t see her leave so he comes
Out of the bathroom and then the bars getting ready to close down there and uh he’s looking for her and can’t find her cuz he was going to give her a ride home and then the footage actually shows Gretch and leaving with the man and his car driving
Away at the bar they tell us that she left with Preston Pierce and we’re like who’s that and the bartenders they were completely Cooperative they released all their video footage to the police the police was able to go in and get whatever they needed the bartenders mentioned that gret was left with Preston
Pierce what I gathered from the uh bartender and the owners um Preston was not a regular customer there but he had been there maybe a time or two before I don’t know what he said to her how he got her in the gambling room it’s just
Kind of a social kind of thing maybe he said said hey I’ve got 20 bucks you want to go play the machine your ride you know it’s late into the hours of December 3rd December 4th morning she knew she couldn’t go to Nana’s you know
Hey I can give you a ride to a friend’s house or do you want to sleep on on my couch you can you know I don’t know I think she probably had a little bit too much to drink that night maybe he said hey I got another place up the
Road or something or I I I don’t know but I I I don’t think that like he was a friend of hers or anything after speaking with some of the bartenders at my lounge there were able to tell us they Gretchen left with another male subject named Preston
Pierce I described who Gretchen fling was and he was able to recall the accounts he had that evening with Gretchen he said that he and Gretchen had left the bar together he dropped her off in the downtown area Park BG that’s when we went back to the downtown area started knocking on doors canvasing the area uh with a team that we had put together and trying to see if there’s any Witnesses or video footage that may have captured that yourself you’re looking for a piece
Of clothing that she may have had or maybe you encounter somebody that was walking down the street that you know you could you could interview and a field interview and Garner information so you know no no Stones been left Unturned on December 14th we obtained video footage for multiple surveillance
Cameras and went back to the office to review that and that’s when we were able to reconstruct we you Preston went in early morning hours of December 4th so my way Lounge it’s uh at the intersection of fifth in Juliana and this is the uh so after they exit the front
Entrance of the establishment at my way and we believe that Preston was parked in the northern parking lot uh at MyWay lounge near the News and Sentinel from there we had video footage uh that captured headlights so after the headlights kick on we see the vehicle looks like it turns down the alleyway
Headed towards 6 Street we believe that vehicle to be Preston Pierce’s vehicle shortly after we obtained video footage from a nearby gas station we we believe we see Preston’s vehicle on an Street and he’s headed in the direction of Southside park or anytime the vehicle had stopped we’re also not just looking for
A vehicle we’re looking to see a Gret and you maybe you know walking in any area there’s a lot of wooded area and underneath the Fisher Bridge we canvas that area as well looking for you know anything that may Place Gretchen in that area or any evidence that may help us further
Investigation and we were not able to locate anything that placed her at those areas from the video footage that we obtained we did not see her get out of the vehicle we did not see her walking in the area of the in the downtown area and then through that we see
Preston’s vehicle what we believe is his vehicle is traveling in the direction of his home we know that Preston and Gretchen left the bar together we believe his vehicle was traveling in the direction of his home I immediately knew something bad happened gut instinct this is not normal and that’s what made this
Turn into a scary situation where we knew something was wrong at this point things aren’t adding up for us and a lot of the statements he gave us that that evening were inconsistent with the surveillence that we collected last person that she walked out of the my way lands with the last
Person seen with his little girl he’d expect an answer from me due to the totality of circumstances of the information that we had it led me to draft up search warrants and meet with our local prosecutor our prosecutor reviewed the search warrant and we were able to present that to a circuit court
Judge who believe we had an probable cause to do a search warrant on press’s home vehicle and his storage gun at this point in the investigation in my mind F playy has happened Gretchen Fleming was last seen December 3rd 2022 if you have any information please contact detective Zimmerman
We believe uh Preston was the last person with Gretchen in the early morning hours of December 4th on December 15th our detective Bureau was able to secure three different search warrants one for Preston’s house a storage building that that he rented as well as his vehicle um after doing so uh
Three different search teams were were divided and all three warrants were executed after we put the teams together to go out and execute these search warrants we’re trying to place Gretchen inside the home or inside to be you know very detailed while you’re doing a search warrant you want to collect as much
Evidence as you possibly can you know whether you think it might may be relevant or not it’s better to collect it and then you know to bring it back we can send it off to the lab at that point to you verify if it is uh relevant to our
Case I was hoping we were going to I don’t know what I was hoping I just I I was hoping we were going to find something we were going to find her just the emotions were going through my head I just can’t even explain I I still can’t explain the emotions that I’m
Going through it’s you just don’t even know how to process this it’s just day by day the processing is it I don’t know I don’t even know you don’t want to have to hear the the details and know what happened I mean it makes me sick to my stomach
Thinking about having to identify a body or you know the it’s scary it’s terrifying so after our teams collect evidence from Preston’s home his vehicle and the storage unit they come back to the office we start packaging up all the evidence that we do have you know labeling everything that we have and
Documenting everything and then uh sending out what items that we want to send to the State Police lab but the search did not find finding body at this point you know I found out that they had conducted the search warrants I thought all right I’m going to get to the bottom of
This so when I first heard the name Preston pierce it is not a name that I’d ever heard before I immediately went into detective mode as I do I got on social media and I found that he’s a food delivery guy once his name was out on social media I never saw anything
Positive some women were complaining that he really creeped them out and and was almost stalking them at some points because they would call he would have their phone number when he would use the delivery things you know he knows where people live because he’s delivering food to their houses he’s got their names
He’s got their phone numbers he’s contacting him after he delivers food to them you’re beautiful one of our good friends had to stop ordering because he was texting her inappropriately after he had delivered her food my mom shops at a local clothing store and she was there one day
Shopping and got to talking to the girls that worked there they had to stop getting food delivery because Preston would come into the store and talk inappropriately to them then he would start text messaging them inappropriate things I had a friend with him and woke up the next morning in his house
And didn’t know how she got there or what had happened to her which makes you feel sick to your stomach and my first response was did she contact detective zmer and she eventually did I don’t think that this is the type of person that you want to be the last person seen
With your daughter he’s had multiple complaints against him for stalking women he’s had complaints for pursuing underage miners after we executed the search warrant at Preston’s home our local news station here put an image of Preston’s house on their new uh one that were compelled to tell me about their past incidence with
Preston Pierce but at this point you know we have to be careful what information we we do release to the media in my opinion I think he thinks he’s Above the Law I think he thinks that he’s Untouchable and I’m really scared for the community of who little girls
Next in February 2 months after gression disappeared we did put together a community search out of mountwood park to Preston’s home there’s a lot of acreage so we had over over 500 people show up and through that you know we were able to cover a lot of ground out out at mountwood
Park Community members praying for answers today hundreds driving to mountwood park about 30 minutes east of parkerburg to participate in the search Party the the community was concerned someone from Parkersburg was in trouble they wanted to help so we were flooded with with tips and people offering to volunteer in any way that they could Everybody genuinely cared I couldn’t keep the tears out of my eyes because you see that many people trying to help you and help you find your daughter it’s it’s it’s very overwhelming and and shows you the support that this community has and that there’s still a lot of kind
People through the community search there was various items that were collected unfortunately none of to which we believe uh had had anything to do with u with Prest and Pierce or CR and flaming so anytime I saw a report of an unidentified body being located anywhere
I would contact that agency and see what information they had we had no evidence to say that one morning some reporter from a new station reports the body of the missing woman had been found got you know four kids in the house they’re they’re reading this on social media
Emma Gretchen’s sister comes running upstairs because she’s home for school at the time for her Christmas break and she’s like I heard they film Gretchen I’m trying to get in touch with the detective you know I’m wondering why he didn’t call me and tell me what’s going
On I’m going beside myself it makes me feel sick to my stomach L to Gretch in they reported body being found in the Ohio river which is just right across the river which makes sense in the vicinity of where she went missing detective Z he didn’t know what
To happen either he was just as ambushed as as we were reading it so he was already in R to try and figure out why he hadn’t been notified by local authorities through the you know various law enforcement agencies I did contact the description it didn’t match
Gretchin I was Furious I sent the reporter in a real nasty email like you know do a little bit of due diligence before you try and get a story because we have other children we have aging parents that are the grandparents we don’t need even more stress in our life
Because you want a Story after we did the the mountain one search you know allthough didn’t pan out our team we still didn’t give up we still out doing searches in various areas and we’re still with locations so in January the police had a tip that possibly she could have been put down a
Well so detective Zimmerman took a crew and they went and had a uh drilling company come in and and they drain the well looking for you’re on pens and needles wondering what are we going to find out is this the moment that we’re going to get the
Answers it’s terrifying I mean we want the answers but again near here doing a U yeah ran a snake with a camera we were able to get a a visual on the inside but it wasn’t it wasn’t very clear so we had a company come in and drain that and
After that search being here for about a week we felt comfortable marking this off our list could not Place scratching here we’re almost 6 months and no arrest has been made but it’s still a very active investigation they’re going to get to the bottom of this it takes time and as
Hard as it is to be patient we have to let law enforcement do what they do the police haven’t slowed down at all they’re moving fast they haven’t slowed down or stopped on this at all in fact I I think the uh momentum is picking up at this
Point although we haven’t been able to release a lot of detailed and information in regards to this case it still is very active we want the public to know that we are still currently working on this case I believe that Preston’s the last one that was with
Her I don’t have any doubt that he is the person that has done something to her I I believe that he is a predator I believe that he prays on young women young pretty women young lady that was too trusting and I believe that he took advantage of That based on all the information that we gathered with this case and surveillance and Witnesses statements I can confidently say that Preston Pierce is a person of interest and I believe he has more information in regards to Gretchen’s disappearance fortunately he stopped communicating with us he can hide he can
Run but we’re eventually going to get Him if any of you out there know anything friend please come forward we have a reward of $100,000 for anybody that has information that can bring Gretchen home I ask you look within yourself there’s a family that needs questions answered that are struggling with this every day and help this family get closure help us get the answers we need to find Gretchen if I could see Gretchen again the first thing I’d do is give her a big
Hug and tell her how much I love her and how much I’ve missed her imagine if this was your daughter your sister how would you feel to be in this situation it’s horrible her brothers and her sisters her family he’s a popular fraternity brother with a big heart highly talented a
Natural leader he’s very dedicated when he wanted to do something he did it a cpse in judgment trips him up but he soon gets himself back on track he seemed like he was doing well in school he was keeping up with school work until one day he heads to campus and never
Returns it’s as if when that bus pulled away he vanished a cryptic note is his only explanation said my family’s given me a lot of opportunities that I just didn’t take advantage of his puzzling secrets leave detectives and his loved ones baffled we think there’s somebody out
There that can help us figure out what’s going on I don’t care why he left where he’s been I just want him to come [Applause] [Applause] home Tuesday night April 19th 2016 18-year-old College sophomore James Martin Roberts who goes by Martin meets with friends at a favorite appalachin State University hangout the Klondike Cafe it was a pretty busy night um pretty usual for kondik I mean packed that you can still walk around but it’s
Pretty hard you’re probably going to get your fees uped on or something Martin and his fraternity brother have come for the klondike’s Big Draw my group of friends we wanted to go to play trivia and so I texted Martin and I was wondering if he was going to be
There according to Martin’s friend Holly he’s true deform that night he would always just say funny things and just he always be the guy that everybody wanted to hang out with I was just so mesmerized by Martin always like had such a huge crush on him that I didn’t even realize anything else
Was going On the son of parents who are divorced and estranged from each other Martin first enrolled at appalachin State University in Boon North Carolina almost a year and a half earlier he was really set on going to Appalachian State and when then that acceptance came in he was
Really excited about it nestled in the foothills of the scenic blue Ridge Mountains the school’s Vibe is unique the laid-back atmosphere I think it suits him his very first semester he’d been invited to pledge of fraternity on campus ta Kappa Epsilon known as te for short he knew people there already and
They were invited to the Frat parties and immediately he was selected I know that he’s someone who thrives when he’s around his friends he wanted an opportunity to make friends quickly and that was the best way to do it I think he liked the Brotherhood he had
Always played Sports and had his team and the fraternity was kind of the same thing even as a child in Kernersville North Carolina Martin was a natural athlete playing soccer playing baseball playing football he just he always loved Sports as the brown-haired blue-eyed Dynamo got older he excelled on the
Soccer field he liked to compete he liked to play he liked to play to win marttin was pure hustle pure work and he did it calmly and quietly all the time he could walk off the field and be relaxed comfortable fun loving respectful kind caring he’s got a big
Heart people would look up to him and it made him feel really good about himself in high school he was voted C of his soccer team yet by the time he graduated he was ready for a change Martin was very very focused on something that interested him business
Finance things of that nature were something that he had said all along he thought he had an interest in academically Martin set his sights on app States business school he was smart he was very dedicated when he wanted to do something he did it Wednesday night April 20th the day after
Martin was at the Klondike Cafe his father John Roberts who lives 2 hours away has been expecting a call from Martin we were making plans for the you know coming weeks and for the summer and for next semester we were talking about the classes he was in and the the grades
That he had at that time 2 days earlier Martin told his dad he’d soon have his first paycheck from his new dishwashing job at the Daniel Boone Inn all right talk to he was going to call me back Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest and talk about how much money he made but
According to Martin’s friends and family his phone was his Achilles heel he was just a not a great like texting Communicator phone Communicator I feel like multiple times he always had a broken phone he refused to put it in a case ever wouldn’t not put it in a case
So by the next day Martin’s father still hasn’t heard from his son he tries reaching him yet again with no luck seemed a little bit strange since he was so definite that he was going to call me Back that same morning Martin is actually at his apartment getting ready to start his day he chats with his roommates over breakfast they all said that they saw him in passing on Thursday Martin tells them he’s heading to the library took a water bottle and he put
It in his backpack and he he left probably about 10:30 that [Applause] morning around lunchtime Martin’s cousin who also attends AB State runs into him on campus it was a complete chance meeting she had uh forgotten something for her class the two have barely seen each other this
Semester they walked together to the nearby Apple CART bus stop the free bus service students and Boon residents use to get around town they had a conversation for 10 or 15 minutes and upbeat Martin tells her about his plans for next semester and that he’s on his way to his fraternity house Now when the bus comes she gets on and the cousins go their separate ways he started walking down the street and she didn’t think anything of it this brief casual meeting will soon take on far greater significance than his cousin ever imagined it really was some kind of
Coincidence if you believe in that kind kind of thing that they happened to meet up at that time at that place and it would be the last time that we’ve seen or heard from Him at 4:00 that afternoon two of Martin’s close friends and frat brothers stopped by his apartment to see him Martin hey Martin man you okay the day before he abruptly dropped out of their fraternity chat group he was the Freshman pledge class leader of that group those people reached out to Martin
Wanted to know why but Martin’s not in his room and he’s no longer responding to the texts from his friends by Friday morning Martin’s father is increasingly worried about his son it’s been for landlord for the apartment complex I said are you going to go by there anytime today this
Morning I need to check on Martin the apartment manager started calling the roommates and saying hey can you go in his room see if he’s there see if you can figure out what’s going on Martin’s roommate knocks on his closed door Martin Martin and they didn’t know if he
Was in the room or gone Martin’s not inside but on his desk there’s a note we eating it his roommate immediately realizes something is very [Applause] Wrong Friday morning April 22nd 2016 a roommate of college sophomore Martin Roberts has made an alarming Discovery in his room the roommate called me read me the note over the telephone and I knew I had to get up there ASAP just dropped everything at work got
Home as quick as I could got my wife Abby and we headed to Boon as fast as we could get there the roommate’s second call is to the Boon Police Department contacted the police and said we need to report this young man Missing when detective Kevin Wilson arrives at the apartment he reads Martin’s letter the note is so personal Martin’s parents have made only parts of it public it was a note that Martin left stating that he was leaving I think it said to the folks that I won’t see and
He said my family’s was given me a lot of opportunities that I just didn’t take advantage of he was disappointed in himself I think he felt like a failure it’s really Sad but it didn’t really say where he was going or what he was doing it doesn’t say this is a suicide note and I’m going to hurt myself nor does it say this is not a suicide note and I’m going to go away so when I saw
It I thought this is not going to be good um it’s going to be a difficult case Martin has also left important possessions behind his laptop his iPad his phone and his wallet I think it could be seen as the ultimate withdrawal Boon police reach Martin’s half immediately got on phone with my
Mom and we let her know what was going on I left work went and got her and we went to Boon all the way up there there I kept thinking he just went off with a couple of his friends and forgot to tell somebody he’s going to turn
Up according to Martin’s father and stepmother the 19-year-old had expressed disappointment in himself before 8 months earlier after a great freshman year Martin had just returned to Appalachian State as a sophomore his very first night back he ran into trouble he went up for the sole purpose of attending this fraternity
Party he was a social drinker so I don’t think he was addicted to alcohol in any sort of way he drank with his friends who unfortunately drank a lot he made the decision to drive after he had had you know apparently too much to drink then 18 Martin pulled right out
In front of appstate campus police they stopped him in and then that evolved into a driving while impaired citation Martin was taken into custody that night I get a call from him I think it’s like 2:00 a.m. 3:00 a.m. maybe and he tells me I need to come
Pick him up H because he’s in jail and he got a DWI Martin’s girlfriend Kayla lived almost a 100 miles away from M State I don’t know why he didn’t pick somebody closer I think that calling his parents was definitely out of the question at that point he was nervous and scared and
Didn’t want to disappoint them Kayla says she drove 2 hours to Boon that night to help Martin when I arrived he was out as soon as I got there he threw money at me as in like gas money he was like I’m sorry you came all the way up
Here for nothing exhausted and emotional Kayla says they wound up fighting done K I was like I can’t do this I deserve a little bit better um someone who doesn’t disconsider himself in decisions that he makes Caleb that night Martin lost his driver’s license and his girlfriend 24 hours passed before Martin
Got up the courage to call his father and stepmother the speaker it’s when he told us he had got a DUI and said he needed to come home that the situation he was in was not good for him and he needed some time away from it
Got it that same day they brought him back home to Kernersville North Carolina we first thought maybe he was just going to come home for the weekend uh or maybe even began to say I think I want to take a semester off I’d like to get away from the fraternity life Martin
Officially withdrew from appstate while home a friend of his family heard he was looking for work and I said well I’m going be open up my uh store that semester so he’s going to be one of my first HS according to R Miller Martin thrived at his new job in the restaurant
Much like he had playing soccer he’s a rare kid you see a kid that young that mature uh be able to handle business the consistency that he showed on a field is exactly what he showed when he started working for me Martin even put his business education to work to boost the
Restaurant’s bottom line the job helped repair his bruised self-esteem Martin did you know exaggerate some but he said that rich wanted to scrim him for management after Martin took a full semester off he returned to college in January of 2016 he was ready to get not to be
Living with us again but according to his father Martin wanted to handle his education differently this time he was not living on campus in a dorm like he did his first year he was living in an apartment with three other fraternity Brothers he seemed like he was doing well well in
School he was keeping up with school workor I think he was glad to be back uh with his friends um but we didn’t talk as much after he went back now just 4 months later Martin’s family and friends have been blindsided by his sudden disappearance during the 2-hour Drive Bo
His father calls Martin’s cousin who’s on the op State campus she was the one that said we ran into each other yesterday as a matter of fact at Martin’s father’s request she rushes to Martin’s apartment while talking with his roommates inconsistencies emerge they thought Martin was headed to
The library Thursday morning which isn’t where his cousin ran into him Martin told her he was headed to the house where his teak fraternity Brothers hang out if he were to go to the Teak House he would have made a right Andross the street and the Teak House would be right
Up here but police find no evidence Martin arrived there were people that were at the house that day around that time and they said he he didn’t come by today we didn’t see him at all trying to determine where Martin went detective Wilson contacts the city’s apple cart bus service there is
Video on the apple cart transit buses we poured over video that night we were actually able after several hours to find him on video walking away from the bus [Applause] Stop April 23rd 2016 college student Martin Roberts was reported missing 15 hours earlier by his roommates his cousin was the last person to see him as they parted at a campus bus stop now police have just spotted him on video taken by bus security cameras it’s
Kind of grainy but uh it’s clear enough to tell that it’s Martin the front camera clearly shows him starting to walk away the side camera you can see him through the glass and then the back camera catches him as he’s walking away Martin’s on foot and heading toward a busy intersection he’s
Right on the edge of Campus so the detective is hoping the video will reveal which direction he takes he’s on that video that last frame for approximately 17 seconds and he’s right at a street corner he looks One Direction and looks the other direction and then they don’t see him anymore as
If when that bus pulled away he Vanished hoping for leads on which way Martin headed boom police tried to access his phone but without his passcode it’s sealed tight as a drum but the unique thing to Apple products is if you haven’t opened your emails or phone calls or text messages they’ll actually are visible on that
Phone a lot of M text and Miss phone calls investigators follow up on every missed call and text as a result the news quickly spreads that Martin can’t be found it was just like the worst feeling you could ever have your heart just drops police begin scrutinizing Martin’s interactions before he went missing
Thursday trying to understand his frame of mind a fraternity brother tells police that 48 hours before Martin disappeared he’ driven him to get a haircut they actually took him to the bank because he had to go to the bank to withdraw cash money when Martin returned according to his roommates he’d also bought
Groceries he had a small refrigerator in his bedroom and when we were there could have taken the food with him when he Left Martin’s high school girlfriend Kayla tells police that in her case she’d grown concerned about Martin 3 days earlier when he withdrew from a high school chat group she sent him a text saying what are you doing do you not want to talk to me anymore in particular she
Didn’t know that that very night Martin also withdrew from his fraternity chat group and then he started saying things that made me question if he was okay it was things like no one can help me at this point there’s nobody I can talk to the next day Martin went missing it’s
Unbelievably alarming but uh you know we don’t know we don’t know what’s going to happen until until it happens then Boon police are told about a possible sighting of Martin just an hour and a half after he left his cousin at the bus stop we had a young lady come forward
Who stated that she had seen him walk in in an area not too far from town she knew who Martin was I think she described the had like an unusual or a particular gate that she hey I know that’s Martin Roberts the exact location flry Fork Road between winklers Creek and pain Branch
Roads from there it’s possible Martin may have been headed to a nearby Recreation Area called Trout Lake it is a well visited area by college students it’s easy to get to and there’s water there there’s walking trails you can hike in the mountains there police learn that Martin has been to Trout Lake
Before perhaps he packed some food food for a hike and something happened to him here in the densely forested foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains the day after Martin was reported missing North Carolina State Highway Patrol provides a specially equipped helicopter to conduct a nighttime search for Martin in the area
Of the sighting they have what’s called a Ford looking infrared radar if you’re walking in an area or if there’s an animal in the area they give up a lot more heat than the surrounding ground if Martin’s somewhere in the woods the sensors would see him plain as
Day but the infrared search yields [Applause] nothing as investigators piece together details about Martin from his friends and family a pattern begins to emerge they discover he’d been selectively revealing or hiding details about himself for months before he went missing after coming back to college his friends started to notice that they were
Who sometimes would say I was with my cousin well but we talked to his cousin he only has one cousin in Boon and she says I haven’t seen him we don’t hang out together Martin also hid something much bigger from his roommates and his mother and sister that he wasn’t even attending
Appalachin State this semester we thought he was back enrolled in appet he was now enrolled in our local Community College we wanted to take classes online I think it’s four or five classes at the community college investigators get Martin’s academic records from the community college there’s another
Revelation he was doing fine he wasn’t failing anything but he just decided to stop going it had been nearly a month since Martin had logged on to any online courses he was you know telling me about his grades and his classes and extra credit and things like that and he had quit
Going that’s not all Martin had been hiding we called the places that he was telling his family members he worked at and they said we we have applications um I was actually able to find applications to all the places he’s talking about but he never got
Hired at the time I thought me he is he’s working himself to death you know now I know different but you know wish I have known then but we didn’t know he was being mysterious or untruthful or hiding something from from just about everybody Martin’s mother and sister say
He even lied to them about his DWI he told them he’d been ticketed while walking home he said that he was stopped by the police and for drunk and disorderly I said well you know um you’ve learn your lesson at least you weren’t driving but Martin was behind the wheel that
Night I was shocked I always thought we had the relationship that he could just talk to me about anything it just seems like he was trying his best to give out this picture to people that everything’s okay I’m doing fine uh when in actuality he wasn’t doing fine at All 19-year-old Martin Roberts has been missing from Boon North Carolina for 5 days in that time police have uncovered a trail of disengaging from his networks and his friends and and being so deceptive about things was very unusual it was not how he was everything that happened was pointing to
His he was actually miserable and it wasn’t work tired it wasn’t School tired burnt out whatever he was just miserable or depressed or something Martin’s cryptic note now makes more sense to investigators they think he’d been telling people what he imagined they wanted to hear about him it seems to me
That Martin was very much trying to keep up the facade that everything was going great for him and his note he alluded to being tired of that of tired of his life not living up to Expectations but police have no idea what ‘s intentions were they look for clues in his possessions starting with his wallet as a result of his DWI Martin no longer had a valid driver’s license they take your driver’s license away from you physically his father says Martin did get a state issued ID
Card it’s now gone his original ID was not in that room we assume it somewhere else or or on his person Martin didn’t take his bank card with him his parents had said you know he’s going to have a certain debit card and this is this is what bankets through
When police check Martin’s banking history there were no large withdraws or suspicious purchases before he went missing there’s been no more activity and still hasn’t been any activity at all this time Boon police also find something unexpected Martin Left Behind Some anti-depressant pills that uh Martin was not prescribed
There were quite a few of them I don’t know of any time that he has been treated for depression it’s not something that we see being bought and sold between students here police are never able to determine how Martin got the anti-depressants or why he had them in the first
Place five days after he went missing two more possible sightings of Martin are reported to police one near Trout Lake the other winklers Creek Road bolstering the likelihood of the original sighting hour and a half after he’ left the bus stop in that same general area uh around the
Same time frame and so uh for us that seemed to actors check other modes of transportation Martin could have used to go in different directions the best way can tell he didn’t take a bus he didn’t take a cab he didn’t take uh you know one of these app based
Companies unless Martin hitched a ride this leads police back to square one the theory he was traveling on foot he definitely had the ability to hike and he was very active um had a lot of endurance and could do anything that he put his mind to but those who know
Martin best question if he’d ever attempt anything more ambitious than a day hike he’s uh go outside and sweat for five minutes come inside and take a shower type person he just didn’t have a lot of experience probably hadn’t been camping five times in his Life in the bus security video Martin certainly wasn’t dressed for a long journey I only had on with some cheap tennis shoes and a not even what I describe as a backpack even so investigators consider the possibility Martin might have wandered into the hundreds of miles of wilderness surrounding Boone perhaps attempting to
Connect to the nearby appalachin Trail we received a couple things say hey there was a kid out here definitely didn’t belong out here but it wasn’t him something like completely different Martin’s Family suggests another possible death destination we’ve always been a beach family we’ve always gone at least once
If not two or three times a season to the beach a family favorite is ocean is Beach North Carolina 280 mi from boom it’s just outside Myrtle Beach he’s definitely a beach kind of person if so Martin’s two distinctive tattoos might stand out there on his left forearm he’s got an homage
To appalachin State it’s kind of a a blended view of mountains which is definitely reflective of Boon on his right rib cage Martin has a tattoo of a lyric from Bob Marley’s song Zion train don’t gain the world and lose your soul wisdom is better than silver or
Gold over the next 2 months sightings of young men matching Martin’s description pop up along Coastal North and South Carolina but after investigation none turn out to be [Applause] him a month into their investigation Boon police have followed numerous leads trying to L we have these time periods
Where we don’t know where Martin was police find no answers in Martin’s digital footprint extracted from his laptop I would say I went through 12,000 emails and actually read them and and tried to figure out what what’s he doing as an investigative Hail Mary Boon’s chief of police appeals to the
Community for anything they may know about Martin when he was off the radar it’s almost an open letter to the public hey if you’ve got information about this good good or bad or whatever you know here’s the chief’s office line you call me the appeal elicits no
Responses I’ve been doing this job um 20 plus years and I’ve never had any case where you put a fraction of this amount of work into it and you get nothing back then after 4 months worth of dead ends detective Wilson receives an unexpected call from a coroner 350 M away in Indiana
Who’s investigating some unidentified human remains they had found from what I understood the lower portion of a leg the foot but it was in a shoe not just any shoe a gray New Balance sneaker the same kind of sneaker Martin was wearing when he went missing so that coroner said that you
Guys are the first thing that popped up so I just called you would there be a reason he came [Applause] Here 19-year-old Martin Roberts has been missing for 4 months but a coroner in Indiana has just recovered human remains that potentially could be his Boon’s detective Wilson quickly discovers the sneaker found in Indiana is a size and a half larger than what Martin wears yet there’s only one definitive
Way to know if it’s Martin’s we had actually done parental DNA testing I had gone and met with his father and birth mother to do DNA samples the corner said we’re going to send our stuff off and obviously if there’s a match you guys are going to get that neither one of them ended up being a
Match in June of 2016 Boon police investigate another potentially har stuff we’re looking you know we’re looking for that with three reported sightings of Martin near Trout Lake immediately after he went missing police focus on that area and specifically in the water those bodies of water you know it’s sign in
Common for folks to use those as a mean mechanism to to commit suicide or to harm themselves extensive water searches are conducted of both trout lake and the nearby Boon Reservoir the North Carolina estate Bure investigation they have uh a few dog teams of um hrd dogs human remains
Detection most folks know them as caber dogs the dogs are trained on the odor of human decomposition the gases are actually lighter than the water so they’re going to rise to the surface and so what we’re looking for when we’re doing the searches of the water is for the dogs to
Do exactly the same thing as they do on the ground is to alert us when they smell those gases their searches also use sonar technology and divers to scan the bottoms of the lake and Reservoir afterward the dogs scour the land surrounding both bodies of water the searches yield nothing there was nothing
Uh no change of behavior on the days that we searched for uh Martin in the water areas no animation nothing gave us any indication that there was anything [Applause] there Boon police Circle back to try to understand Martin’s behavior and what he’d been silently struggling with
Before he went missing I did a search warrant to the college because they have a Counseling Center that that offers free counseling to the students laws protecting patient confidentiality make mental health records difficult to access even for law enforcement did he have some type of um mental illness
Happening did he have an addiction was he having problems with his sexuality or you know some type of identity issue or or or or whatever we never saw any signs or or never been any discussion or communication that he was having any issues with uh sexuality or gender
Identity and we’ve always told him if you have any problem you can tell us about it in our interviews with his friends which are our greatest source of information nobody can give us any information about any of that being a problem but Martin’s friends tell police
They had noticed a marked change in him when he returned to school in January of 2016 he was less about always having fun and going and doing things with them there’d be times where he’d wanted to be alone I would have never known that he was struggling with anything he hit it
Well adap State months pass and Boon police explore a host of theories for other places Martin could have gone they also enlist outside help to scrutinize his case we brought in experts in the field hand them the case File and see in two days and just let them just go through
It with fresh eyes and try to point out anything that we didn’t do well enough or didn’t do it all or anything that they can come up with Martin’s Family holds tight to the hope that investigators can find him they’re offering a reward for up to $10,000 for information on Martin
We think there’s somebody out there that knows something that can help us figure out what’s going on Martin’s father and stepmother have set up a Facebook page called help find Martin Roberts toen the visibility of their cherished missing son just also to try to communicate directly with Martin
How much we love him and we miss him and we want him back we just want to know you’re okay nearly 2 years have passed pass since the day Martin disappeared leaving behind troubling questions I to have no clue what it was impacting him I just feel so bad I didn’t see
It the one thing that we know for sure is we don’t know anything for sure but somebody does in August of 2017 Martin would have turned 21 for his family the pain of his absence is excruciating the plan had always been that Martin was going to walk me down the
Aisle after I got engaged I asked him he said yeah the day that I went and picked out my wedding dress he said I can’t wait for the wedding say but after Martin disappeared she had to decide if she would proceed and he wasn’t there we want to get him back home and
Be a part of the family again I don’t care why he left where he’s been I just want him become home if you have any information about James Martin Roberts or his disappearance you can confidentially contact the Boon police department at 82828 6900 or High Country crime Stompers at 828 268 6959
Margaret haaken mackenro disappeared on Tuesday October 10th 2006 when a person disappears without a trace often the most critical information is hidden in their actions and words from the days before they vanished Margaret mro’s last known whereabouts May hold the clues to what happened to her Margaret haaken mackenro has always
Been a fighter when you met maret you never forgot her she’s a force to be reckoned with as a volunteer firefighter she became a local hero when she saved a woman’s life at the risk of her own that was kind of Margaret she was a firefighter she became a soldier she
Kind of liked action but she is also known to have an explosive temper she was very strong W she pumped heads with a lot of people one fall day the young mother three disappears without a trace the only thing that was missing from from the house was a black Army duffel
Bag and approximately $111,000 in cash did Margaret leave to make a new life every way we went in the investigation kind of took us in a different direction or did her fighting Spirit go someone into Foul Play after she went missing I sat down and I said something really bad [Applause] happened [Applause] As 29-year-old Margaret haaken mackenro dances and pounds her way around the boxing ring she grimaces not only from the effort to keep hitting her instructor’s glove but from the pain that’s throbbing in her legs she suffered from a chronic knee condition she was supposed to have
Surgery on her knees in fact she was going to have it done the following week at only 5′ 2 in tall and less than 110 lb Margaret is Tiny But incredibly strong an athlete and an army veteran Margaret has trained herself to stand up and fight for what she believes in
Whether in a gym boxing ring or her everyday life her friend Lisa Gia con remembers first meeting Margaret 13 years ago she’s a forc to be reckon with but in a good way Margaret was a tomboy very tough firefighter you know in the army tank mechanic but that was the margar that
Everybody saw I’ll never forget walking in her house and she’s sitting on the couch you could smell that there’s a roast in the oven and she’s knitting and I’m like uh who’s this she said sh haakan remember first recognizing the force of their new daughter’s personality they brought her home from
Mississippi where they adopted her when she was 7 weeks old as the plane was landing at Newark Airport she let out a yell and it was a long time before she stopped yelling she was a wonderful little girl but she had a mind of her own and she
Had a very quick strong volatile temper but she also deep down Had a Heart of Gold when she was five the family expanded the hakin adopted three more daughters Margaret was the Tomboy of group we got Christine and Adrien and then the next year we got bethan so we
Went from 1 to four in a year Margaret was admitted to a gifted and talented program in Brooklyn but when she was seven the family moved to waren New Jersey and she lost interest in school she just didn’t quite adjust she was a free spirit she couldn’t sit
Still from more than a few minutes at a time she often sought Escape up a tree her love of school was was such that I had to climb a tree to get her out of the tree to bring her to school we all knew Margaret as a good
Kid fun kid um a lot of spunk Pizzaz not a Troublesome youth but um we always knew where she was the feisty and active Margaret first drew the attention of local cops in her early teens Lieutenant Bobby Glenn remembers Margaret from the days when he was a 20-year-old rookie on patrol my
Patrol car got egged on Mischief Night won Halloween many many years ago um she was found walking in the area uh could never proved that it was her but deep down inside I know it was Margaret Margaret grew up to be a non-nonsense type of woman her strong will had a
Positive side that at one point made her a hero in 1999 when she was 21 Margaret became a fully trained and qualified volunteer firefighter for the Washington Valley Fire Department one of only three female firefighters ERS in the Warren area she gave it her All she didn’t care if it was a blaze if it was inside a building she was going in and she was a great firefighter the guys had no problem going in that fire with a woman they knew Margaret hadn’t covered and they covered her Too when Hurricane Floyd struck that same year she saved a woman swept from a bridge by a flooding stream Margaret actually was able to save uh one of the people by jumping into the river and uh tying the woman up with her suspenders from her fire gear and and waiting there for
Several hours until she was pulled to safely and you can’t swim but Margaret never thought of that Margaret thought about saving people that was Margaret he received an award for Valor but her impetuous nature could also o alienate people when her temper unraveled her Fury was Unleashed on
Friends and family Margaret was not a person who would take any sass but she could give it she was also someone who could be mad at you at one moment in time and then give you a shirt off her back the next we had problems we bumped
Heads she bumped heads with a lot of people though her closest friends and family accept her temper as part of her nature it WS havoc on other relationship ship it broke up her engagement to the father of her first child Sarah Margaret and the father of Sarah were very close
To getting married and then there was a disagreement and that was that after September 11th Margaret left Sarah with her parents and enlisted in the Army where she was trained as a tank mechanic she seemed productive and happy she enjoyed the Armie much better than we thought you know the discipline of
Boot camp we never thought she’ survive she survived and thrived she enjoyed it she seemed to find a little niche almost like the uh volunteer fight Department in Washington Valley she kind of found a home in both places but after 2 years Margaret received a medical discharge and came
Home in 2004 she began living with another volunteer Fireman Tim mackenro the couple had a daughter Emily and when Margaret got pregnant again they got married Melissa was born prematurely in 2006 and spent weeks in the hospital when she came home Margaret was very overprotective the baby was in the
Room with her if at all possible at all times it was all about making sure that the baby was well Margaret is able to channel her fiery Spirit when it comes to being a mother by Fall baby Melissa is getting stronger and Margaret has given up firefighting to stay home with her her
And her older sisters Emily 20 months and Sarah age Nine on Columbus Day Afternoon Margaret visits her father the last time I saw Margaret I was at home she was antsy but it’s hard to tell normal to me with NY she asks him to take her to an orthopedic surgeon for a procedure on her knees the following week she asked
Me if uh I would take her and uh bring her home and I said sure no problem called to her husband and begins angrily pacing the floor getting more and more worked up finally she hangs up on him and she said something to the effect of I’m going to divorce my bleeping husband
She was very agitated Patrick vaan dismisses the Outburst as just a typical Spurt of Margaret’s temper early that evening Margaret’s mother eileene gets a call from her daughter asking if she can bring the children and stay at her parents house later she calls again she called
That night and said no she wasn’t going to come that night she’d be over the next day but then she didn’t make it the next day either it’s the last time Eileen hakin speaks to her daughter before she disappears Years coming up Margaret’s temper gets a workout and police are called if she’s mad and she’s fighting with you she’s going to scream she’s going to yell she might strike you and I know that that was the kind of argument that they had had on Monday the day after Margaret hatak and ow and her husband Tim have a vicious argument her mother eileene is expecting her daughter to come by with her children for an indefinite stay but Margaret never calls or shows up on Tuesday at the time Eileen isn’t alarmed
We just figured that she had calmed down and whatever they had been arguing about it was over and everything was kind of back to normal it was not unusual for Mar to change her mind on something or calm down if she was upset so that we
Had no real reason to think anything had happened what the hatkins don’t know is that the fight between Margaret and her husband Tim mackenro the previous afternoon had been a protracted one verging on violence Margaret was the type of person if she’s mad and she’s fighting with you she’s going to scream
She’s going to yell she might strike you and I know that that was the kind of argument that they had had on Monday the altercation was serious enough that Margaret’s cell phone was broken and Tim mackenro called police Margaret stocked off to her parents house furious with her [Applause]
Husband Margaret’s husband Tim mackenro had called our headquarters to report that he was involved in a verbal dispute um with Margaret um sometime in the early afternoon two of our officers responded to the Scene the officers were met in in the driveway by mackenro who discounted the fight as just a marital disagreement and said his wife had left to have to resume Patrol uh a report wasn’t even filed on the incident Margaret’s friend Lisa says that later that Monday evening a very
Distressed Margaret calls her from the firehouse she had told me about a fight that had happened at the house that she had walked out she wasn’t going to fight anymore I said well you know what it’s getting late I said go home I said are
You okay she said I’m fine I’m just hry and she was screaming and yelling on the phone The next morning Margaret calls Lisa again the phone rang and it was Margaret she gave me this wicked evil laugh and I said oh no what did you do according to Lisa Margaret announces that she has gone on strike for that morning she says her husband claims she does nothing all
Day so she decided to leave it to him to tend to the kids and take the two older ones to school and daycare Lisa isn’t surprised by her friend’s provocative actions and makes plans to go shopping with Margaret later that afternoon it was a few minutes before 9:00 and she
Says I got to go I’m like why she goes Tim just pulled it got to go I’m like all right I’ll talk to you in a few she’s like talk to a few bye click and that was the last phone call was the last time I heard from her that was the
Last time that anybody other than Margaret’s husband reports having any contact with with her Whatsoever that afternoon according to Margaret’s husband Tim he is at a landscaping job when he gets a call from her she tells him they are out of baby formula and asks him to run out and get some and bring it home he does so arriving about
1:30 he quickly leaves again to run some errands when he returns around 3:00 the house feels strangely empty he calls for his wife but gets no response he looks in all the rooms and he’d found their youngest child alone in the crib and no sign to Margaret when Lisa doesn’t hear from
Margaret about shopping that afternoon she just thinks that Margaret got busy I honestly didn’t think anything of it figuring you know maybe the baby was fussy maybe she wasn’t feeling well you know there’s plans and when you have babies they change all the time the next day Lisa says she gets a
Call from Tim’s mother asking her if she has seen Margaret she tells Lisa that Margaret has apparently run off Lisa is stunned and dismayed she asks Tim mother some key questions the phone was broken the day before and the argument that they had had that the car was there well
I said well what’ she take I don’t know but don’t tell Tim I called you I’m like why well Tim doesn’t want anybody to know I said Margaret’s gone you will Tim doesn’t want anybody to know it was just it was just so weird Lisa can’t believe Margaret would
Go off and and leave the baby alone in the house with no one to take care of her it didn’t make any sense you know if they called and said Margaret’s gone Melissa’s gone Emily’s gone Sarah’s gone I’d be like she’s got to cool off I didn’t believe that she walked off and
Left Melissa Melissa was an infant Margaret did not leave her house and leave this baby it isn’t until Thursday afternoon that Tim mackenro call police to report his wife missing 48 hours have gone by and no one knows where Margret is or what may have happened to
Her coming up the search is on for the missing mom and theories about what happened to Margaret multiply either a she took off and wasn’t coming back or B she was a victim of Foul Play When Margaret atakan mackenro disappeared from her home on Tuesday October 10th 2006 her husband Tim initially did not call police he stated that he’ spoke to a couple friends in reference to her disappearance and they said well the police aren’t going to do anything for 24 hours anyway so um wait
To report her missing um he also says that we all know Margaret you know she has a habit of leaving for a day or two to cool down after an argument and that she will be back Tim talked to me about it he says you know she’s got a cool off she’s left
Before it is true that Margaret has a history of going on off to cool down dating from when she was a teenager at 15 she ran away from home after a fight with her parents she said all right I’ll leave and she left she was gone for about a week 10 days or
Something what she was doing was uh hitching rides up and down the East Coast with truckers one of the truckers called us and let us know he had her and he brought her Home when she was was younger uh she’d leave for a day or two before going into the army um she left for an extended period of time but once she had her children we’ve never had any reports of her ever leaving them unattended after Tim mackenro reports are missing on Thursday October 12th
Police don’t search for Margaret right away we kind of may have accepted it as May having known her for you know almost 20 years I assume that she’d be back in a couple days we did have some problems with the fact it was reported to it was a couple days
Later but as the weekend comes and goes without any word or sighting of Margaret investigators begin thinking that certain things don’t add up on Monday October 16th 6 days after Margaret disappeared Lieutenant Bobby Glenn opens an intensive investigation Into The Disappearance Detectives call Margaret’s mother eileene to ask if her parents
Know where she is at this point the hakin still have no idea their daughter is missing although eileene has been trying to reach Margaret since Tuesday I didn’t get an answer on the cell phone and I called the house on Sunday and I was told that Margaret
Wasn’t there and I just said I called and I got on okay Tim never told the Hagans that she had been missing and that she had been reported to police and then Monday the police called that’s the first time we found out that she was missing we didn’t know she was was gone
And and no one called and told us so we found out from the police department it was very upsetting to say the [Applause] least when police asked to search his house Tim Mack is cooperative he allowed a forensic search of his house he allowed forensic search of her computer
But remember by the time we got back to the house to search was probably about 5 or 6 days when you started an investigation behind unfortunately you’re playing catchup that’s not a place you really want to be despite the passage of time there are still signs of the fight between
Margaret and her husband that took place the day before she disappeared during that argument he alleges that her cell phone was broken there was uh the cell phone broken cell phone still in the garbage a lot of garbage in that in the can seems like normally would have thrown it
Out Sergeant Lewis Deo is an investigator with the Somerset County prosecutor his office was called into the investigation 6 days after Margaret haak and mackenro went missing he says Tim mackenro told investigators that the phone wasn’t all Margaret threw at him he came up in and started saying she
Threw a knife at me that kind of thing thought it was kind of strange he left all the stuff laying around like he was waiting to explain it mackenro is asked why he hadn’t told the officers who responded to his domestic dispute call about the violence he doesn’t tell the responding officers
That she threw a knife he doesn’t say that he didn’t want to tell the responding officers that because he didn’t want Margaret to get in trouble investigators are often suspicious of the spouse of a missing person and the domestic dispute call the day before Margaret disappeared adds to their
Concerns in a case like this the husband or spouse is always looked at first a lot of things don’t add up in what he says he doesn’t like to answer really any probing questions about the case from everything that any of the investigators told me at the time he
Just didn’t seem upset enough it just didn’t seem that that urgency that you think would be with a with a baby in the house and other young children involved in a situation but there’s no record of any previous police visits to the home and Tim seems to believe his wife has up and
Left him as days pass investigators are increasingly troubled that Margaret a devoted mother of three hasn’t at least gotten in touch with her family things just started to build on each other those were some of the cursers that just didn’t seem to to fit investigators noticed that most of
Margaret’s possessions are still in her home her broken cell phone credit cards and new car have all been left behind it didn’t appear that she really took anything we went through her belongings one of the things that seemed to be missing was an Army duffel bag
That she had from her time in the military she needed knee braces those were still in the house didn’t appear that much of any type of clothing was missing Tim tells investigators his wife had threatened to kill herself during their argument the day before she disappeared other friends and family members say Margaret may have been struggling emotionally after the birth of Melissa officers speculate that a severe case of postpartum depression could have overwhelmed Margaret and
Caused her to take her own life we had received information from people that we interviewed that she possibly suffering from postpartum depression I had narrowed down search areas places that she had frequented uh when she grew up places that I was familiar with that I knew that she had like to [Applause] go the searches begin on October 19th more than a week after Margaret disappeared they start in areas around her home and expand over the next few days as hundreds of volunteers join the search through Warren Township there were so many firefighters on that surch the town just bonded together it was
Let’s find Margaret the areas that we focused on was an abandoned Quarry um located off at dwat Hollow Road which is uh in the area of her residence another area was Tom’s Brook it was an area that she like is the same Brook she rescued a woman from during Hurricane Floyd 7 years
Earlier Searchers find no trace of Margaret I never viewed Margaret as being a Candidate For Suicide just I don’t think she would ever kill herself investigators discount suicide in Margaret’s disappearance but they’re still in the dark as to what did Happen as the investigation progressed forward it seemed more that there was a possibility that either a she took off and wasn’t coming back or B she was a victim of Foul Play coming up police recover a potential clue to Margaret’s disappearance they showed Tim maen R the shirt and he positively identified it as one that belonged to Margaret get more disappeared online at investigationdiscovery.com vakin mackenro disappears from her Warren New Jersey home leaving her infant daughter alone in her crib investigators have several theories about what may have happened to her one theory that Margaret simply walked out seems to be backed up with some surprising information from her
Husband Tim mackenro tells authorities that a large sum of cash in the thousands of dollars is missing from the house he believed she took the money that she took off on him he’s a landscaper they deal with with cash but it seemed kind of strange that nothing else was missing but some
Money and a duffel bag while police are suspicious of Margaret’s husband they have no evidence that he is responsible for her disappearance they delve into Margaret’s past when she was 18 Margaret hired a detective to locate her biological parents and met both of them had she decided to reconnect with them again
But when investigators make contact her birth parents tell police they don’t know where she is and there are more puzzling aspects to the case investigators learned that Margaret may have another identity her birth name was sherard Halley and she would use that name for like things like
Facebook or stuff where she didn’t want people to know really that it was her police issu a description of Margaret and the clothes her husband said she was wearing when he last saw her checked pajama pants an army sweatshirt and white Nikes it says she is possibly carrying a large black
Duffel bag and she might be going by the name Sherwood on the bulletin there’s maybe an Alias detectives dig into Margaret’s relationships looking for anything suspicious they turned their attention to the father of her first child Sarah Robert had been locked in a bitter custody dispute with him she won full custody of Sarah just days before she disappeared he was investigated and his
Time was accounted for that day the day that she goes missing so he’s been ruled out generally as anyone who may have any knowledge of her disappearance but police don’t believe a stranger abducted Margaret from her home there is no sign of a Breakin and Margaret was clearly capable of
Protecting herself from an attack everybody says she’s a fighter fiery I don’t think she’s going to go down there’s going to be a brawl she’s she was a soldier firefighter she’s got a little baby there to protect if anybody did try to abduct her there would have been evidence of
That person’s blood somewhere because nobody would be able to just quiet come and grab her early on Thanksgiving morning 5 weeks after Margaret went missing there is another strange turn of events a cop on his way to work in a neighboring Township spies a white male acting suspiciously at the side of a
Road not far from Margaret’s home he believes he saw a suspicious male standing behind a guard rail it’s a dead zone so he could not make a phone call to our headquarters to report it later he notifies the warrant Police Department a dispatcher sends out a patrol but the man is
Gone two officers searched the area and find an army t-shirt lying on the pavement those two officers then recovered that shirt uh then took it to the mackenro residents where they showed Tim mackenro the the shirt and he positively identified it as being one of the t-shirts that belonged to
Margaret we submitted to the uh New Jersey State Police lab for trace evidence or any DNA or anything like that but nothing uh was ever found on it so that kind of went nowhere I did not have any hope that that was going to lead to to anything that area was
Searched repeatedly um this t-shirt was found on the paved portion of the roadway there’s no way that numerous Searchers police officers would have missed that t-shirt it didn’t look like it had been laying out very long didn’t make any sense why would somebody throw that out there unless it was a red
Herring or something my personal opinion is that some investigators are stumped by now they have exhausted most Avenues supporting the theory that Margaret left on her own did she hook up with somebody from the Army did she just need to get away for a while did she go
Back to any sort of military life she had a lot of issues going on with her health with her knees was she seeking different treatment and just wanted Time by herself to do that so all those Avenues were covered we object any type of credit cards that were issued to her for any
Activity which resulted in nothing we had checked Nationwide all databases for her name and also her birth name Sherwood Haley showed nothing all along investigators have also been considering the possibility of Foul Play I think every minute or day that went by more and more of us said to
Ourselves this isn’t right and started to question whether there wasn’t you know some misdeed in this that that led to her disappearance most of her friends and family are convinced that Margaret would never abandon her children they say motherhood changed her M was a very good mother she cared
Tremendously for her children and just L them to pieces and I I think she would be here if she could we don’t believe in the slightest that she abandoned her children cuz I feel that Margaret being an adopted child had that feeling of Abandonment and I’m
Quite sure she wouldn’t want her kids to ever have that feeling she knew that anything she needed I would have taken the baby her mom would have taken the baby she would have never walked off but they left in the house now there is no evidence that Margaret was
Seeing someone on the side so police focused their attention on her strained relationship with her husband Margaret was um fiery kind of woman wasn’t actually afraid to throw a punch now and then or a kick we heard that the relationship between her and her husband became violent at different times I knew
That they had their differences but I didn’t realize until she said it on Monday that there was something more to it because all she kept repeating is I want a divorce I’m done I’m done I’m out of here I want a divorce her friend Lisa confronts Margaret’s husband on the telephone with
A scenario she imagines may have happened I was so frustrated and angry at that point I said to you know what Tim I can see it all is this what do you mean I you’re fighting with her she’s still angry from the day before she’s screaming in your face she’s probably
Kicking you you get so angry what happens I said you sh do she hit her head what happened what do you do detectives noticed that mackenro keeps changing his story about the amount of cash he says went missing with his wife over time he ended up telling people different
Denominations of of money that was taken I think one was 6,000 9,000 11,000 was the original we were never uh really able to prove that the money even existed or was missing from the house and to some investigators mro’s attitude toward his wife’s disappearance continues to seem strange he seemed a
Little agitated but not distraught he wasn’t you know running around oh my God where’s my wife or anything like that he doesn’t seem to be all that concerned where she’s at I haven’t personally seen him upset he hasn’t reached out to the Warren Police Department to provide us
With any further information into her disappearance however one key element in ma Andro story about his movements that day is confirmed police have a receipt showing he bought baby formula at the approximate time he told them the formula he brought home to his wife the last time he says he saw
Her we do have a receipt from baby formula I’m I’m not going to go much more into that but um some of his his story does check out mackenro continues to tell police that he believes his wife has left voluntarily and that he has nothing to do with her going missing
On the one-year anniversary of Margaret’s disappearance family members hold a prayer service at their local Catholic Church in the church Memorial Garden is a statue of an Angel and an eternal flame the hakin keep lit as a symbol of hope for her return but those hopes are fading
Closure is becoming more apparent to us that it’s going to be she’s a victim of Foul Play and that’s not something you want to entertain coming up with the investigation at a standstill local authorities reach out to the FBI and the case heats up again we figured let’s maybe get some
Fresh eyes on it see what Happens [Applause] the strange disappearance of young mother Margaret haaken mackenro remains a mystery to investigators for 4 years occasional tips and sightings come in but lead nowhere some people thought that they saw her in Alaska uh some other people said they saw her at a shopping mall it’s kind of getting like
Elvis she’s seen all over the place but nowhere he knows she can’t be she was riding a um golf cart from a distance I swore that it was marget my heart even Even no way could it have been her I swore it was H it wasn’t but Margaret’s oldest daughter Sarah now 13 has been living with the hankin since her mother disappeared Sarah and her mother used to share birthday rituals like smearing frosting on each other’s faces happy Traditions that are now only memories I think Sarah keeps a lot inside and a lot
Goes on in her mind that’s not really coming out I think she misses her mother probably as much now as she did when she disappeared the case frustrates law enforcement in 2011 after several years off the case Sergeant Deo comes back as a Cold Case Investigator he and the Somerset County
Prosecutor call in the FBI we figured let’s maybe get some fresh eyes on it and see what happens soon they come up with a new approach to prevent prospective Witnesses from comparing notes FBI agents accompanied by local investigators call on Tim mackenro and all the other principles in
The case at exactly the same time we didn’t want anybody jumping the gun so we had a time down to the minute they knocked on Tim mro’s Door everybody else started interviewing their prospective person it was like a huge trap sprung at one time as a result Margaret’s husband Tim was named a
Person of interest it was on the Internet by 12:30 that Tim was named a person of interest and it was just a sigh of relief it was about time Tim Mao was always a person of interest from the beginning but in talking with the agents from the FBI
Warren PD and ours we decided there was it was time to name him as a person of interest in his wife’s disappearance over the years he’s just not been that Cooperative in the investigation both of Margaret’s parents and her friend Lisa have taken and passed polygraph tests but Tim mackenro
Has not agreed to take one despite repeated requests for him to do so he has repeatedly turned us down he we had set that up and even offered to pay for half at the last minute he declined that polygraph I don’t know if he’s ever had an excuse
On why he won’t he just backs out of him at the same time agents are re-interviewing mackenro and others another ground search for Margaret is launched but nothing is found warship is 20 square miles um we have over 100 miles of Road in it but there’s still
Some large chunks of land that are undeveloped a good portion of the town has been checked Tim mackenro has not been charged with any crime he did not return repeated calls to be interviewed for this program he continues to maintain his innocence to the police investigators say their new initiative
Has reopened a dialogue with Margaret’s husband we have been in contact again with mackenro on a more uh regular basis he hadn’t contacted the police department or prosecutor’s office for quite some time but now he’s called a few times so that’s been a plus it came out of bringing the FBI
In members of the Warren Police Department have known Margaret since she was a teenager and socialized with her when she was a firefighter they take a very personal interest in her case I hope that tomorrow Margaret walks through the door and tells everybody she’s okay deep down in my heart I don’t
Believe that’s going to happen I believe she is a victim of Foul Play I would hope that at some point we find her remains to bring closure to the family Margaret would not have left them and just disappear three little kids don’t have an answer as to where their mother
Went I can only imagine how they can be we have a luxury in our County that we don’t have these kind of things happen all the time so we have time to work on them so this case isn’t going to be put away we’re going to do what we
Can to try to find her whatever that may Bring Patrick and eileene hakin tend to their daughters Memorial and each year on the anniversary of her disappearance family and friends put up silver ribbons with Margaret’s picture on them in the hopes it might spark a lead that will help find her we hope somehow to not let
Her memory disappear we would love to be able to give her a Christian burial that would be important to us the loss of the best friend she used to talk to every day still haunts Lisa gacon the one body to bury to put a headstone on so that Sarah as well as
The other two girls know that Mommy didn’t leave I do not believe that Margaret walked away mommies don’t Leave Dia Abrams disappeared on June 6th 20120 no one knows what happened to DIA she’s missing she’s disappeared she left her phone her driver’s license all of her credit cards and a large sum of money behind does it make sense her family is desperate for answers we’ll do
A search immediately of the rants maybe she had gone on a hike maybe she’d got injured would she have ran away because she had so much on her plate she was cutting her kids out of her will they had been basically disowned children were money hungry and Di said would have disappeared retraces
Dia’s last known steps but Keith Harper had a whole lot to gain by di going missing who is this guy was there Foul Play here I’m worried I I think he’s got connections with mob people I mean he was the last one to see her when we kept
Thinking could he have really hurt her you don’t kill people you love you kill people that you don’t love I feel like I failed her it’s the not knowing drives me crazy the more people who know Dia’s Story the greater the chance of bringing her home share on social media ABS my name is Diana and I’m a friend and neighbor of Dia Abrams in Garner Valley California on June 6th of 2020 Dia Abrams disappeared from her Bonita Vista Ranch in Garner Valley California Dia and I first met through a mutual friend and from that our friendship grew we I first met Dia
Abrams in either 2010 or 2011 and throughout the years it seemed like we ended up rescuing each other all the time I had a really bad accident she took care of me she had a really gnarly back surgery and I took care of her Diana Dia and myself we became good friends after That I can only describe Dia with one word and that word is firecracker she had a presence about her her Pride and Joy were her animals if there was a dog on the side of the road she’d find a home for It Dia came out to this area Mountain Center area in the mid to late ’90s her Ranch is one of the most beautiful areas that you’ll see Dia owns three properties in the Mountain Center area one home was located on a 5 acre parcel in Garner Valley another residence was the Bonita
Vista Ranch which consisted of 116 acres and then another resided between the Garner Valley house and the Bonita Vista Ranch I’m Jenny kishner and I was a reporter and photographer for the ID wild town crier newspaper and when the went missing it was probably the biggest story that I had worked
On ID wild is a small Mountain Community in the mountains above Palm Springs and it sits surrounded by the San Bernardino National Forest it’s a small population it’s about 4,000 people and everybody definitely knows everybody it’s a very tight before she moved to Mountain Center Dia married clim
Abrams he was a wealthy real estate developer out of the San Diego area Dia and Clen separated when she moved to Mountain Center and he passed away in 2019 DIA has two children their son Clinton and her daughter crisara crisara is a couple years older than
Clinton I know that Dia loved her kids I do but I remember her telling me that she was disappointed in her children in that they could not make time for her they for their their mother just because of how her children made her feel I think she wanted an
Emotional partner and then Harper came along my name is Keith har ER I was born and raised in a little town in Southern Idaho then I went into Private Industry a recreational outfitting business out of Durango Silverton uray Colorado I met Dia in a dating site and uh we had a 4-year
Relationship when I looked at her I said gosh you are a country girl and she said why do you say that and I said because you have hay in your hair and she looked in the mirror and she said you know I fed the horses before I came I am so
Sorry and I said no that just proves to me who you are I knew we had something special connected I knew she needed help on the ranch and I offered to come and actually work for her and I felt deeply in love with Her Dia had told me at one point that Harper had had a a criminal past but that he was not a criminal came around I thought it was a good thing because it was help for Dia but it was never really a romantic thing there was no affection
Between the two uh usually if you are involved in a relationship you hold their hand or smile at them a certain way uh or put your arm around them uh when you’re sitting in a chair it was lacking any type of physical emotion or activity with one
Another so I didn’t know if they were dating or not and she goes well yeah he is he’s more than a friend and that was it that’s all I knew we were leaving for Colorado after the weekend we’ve had some great trips where we went and it all has to do with nature
And she was an Enthusiast about that anyway that was our plan she had packed we were packed and I said I’m going to go out and mow the metal I had stopped at around 2:00 had lunch with Dia she said have you got a minute I need I need to talk
With you and I said Dia it’s going to take me till dark to get the metal done I’m I’m not that far into it I need to get it done and she said oh okay me cuz she felt it was fairly significant I kind of discouraged that I
Wished I hadn’t done I may have learned things about what she knew that she was willing to share at that moment and I never get to do that chance again I went back to mowing by times I got things squared away and came into the house it was approximately 7:00 so
Right at dark and I went upstairs and I found her phone plugged in and no de her purse was sitting there and I thought I’m surpris she didn’t take her purse here somewhere I was surprised that she wasn’t there but she had talked about going down to the lower horse ranch and
Uh uh going out and exercising the horses so I thought maybe that’s what she does she should be back shortly d night with you I said no well I can’t find her I said what do you mean he goes well she was here Saturday I saw her at
Lunch I asked if he checked the Garner Valley house he said yes she’s not there so I said okay I’m coming over we’ll do a search immediately of the rants you know my concern was where she was and what was going going on with her
Maybe she had gone on a hike maybe she’ got injured and so all that’s going through my mind so we called everyone we could think of to come help and search the property we all went to the B Vista Ranch and met with Harper her truck is
Here her keys to the truck are here her purse is here her cell phone is here so so things were not adding up night there was no sign of her and it was getting dark so we all decided to go home and start fresh early the next morning like at 6:00
A.m. I started calling the police Monday morning called Monday afternoon and all the way up until they finally showed up on Monday night I said you know we’ve done an initial surge of the property and uh I said you know I was planning on leaving on Sunday I have
Some business to take place in Colorado on Monday Harper said inance I’m on probation and I have to go back I can’t be here for more than a certain amount of days before I have to leave and then I have to go check in with my my
Probation officer so I have to go check in with them I didn’t know what for and I said well do you think that’s such a good idea but I used to be a probation officer I know if I had a probationer call me and said hey look my girlfriend
Is missing I don’t think it’s a good idea if I leave the probation officer I’m sure would say it was okay to do so the sheriff’s office said they would be shutting Colorado so I left on Monday June 8th of 2020 Harper left the state the community definitely
Had some red flags on why he would do that there was no real answers on why he left by that time DIA son Clinton showed up one of the neighbors had called him to say hey your mom’s missing I remember Clinton just kind of hanging out in the
Front he never went searching he never asked questions was just kind of hanging out with the crowd almost like he was searching for pity or something I never met Clinton as being so smart that he was scary I remember once di looked me straight in the eye and said if anything
Ever happens to me my son Clinton did it Dia loved her children but she did not get to see them very often she said they want to do their own thing she said she was hurt a lot by the inattention she got from them she said they weren’t always exactly kind she ended up doing
The reaching out it wasn’t the other way around and in 10 years I never met Clinton I thought that was pretty Odd she told me she had a constant conf I never ever heard Clinton call her mom it was alwaysa as if he was talking down to her and I remember being very angry about that and I said you cannot continue to let him talk to you that way she was
Disappointed because from what I understood from idea was that the children were money hungry when Dia’s husband Clen was alive the two of them had an arrangement that he would pay for the bills at the ranch then when she got absolutely nothing from that will she realized she had to do
Something so that belonged to the deceased clim Abrams from her children the estate is suspected to worth about 15 to $30 million she said she was upset about having to go through the lawsuit with her kids and she didn’t like fighting with them she was just disappointed in
Them I’m Matt Owens I’m a lawyer I’m a partner with the law firm in San Diego California and I handle disputes involving trusts in the states and I represent Dia’s children Dia it was seeking to to throw out or invalidate her prenuptual agreement that Dia had
With Clen her hus because just like any other trustee would have had to do the same thing in order to protect and honor what Clen had stated he wanted in the trust document Dia’s children were going to be fine regardless of who won or lost that
Lawsuit that Dia had filed there was no potential outcome in that case where Dia’s kids got nothing from Clem’s trust it was just a a dispute over how much de was going to get during her lifetime and some other nuances but her kids were going to be fine regardless of the
Outcome of that case the lawsuit for CLM Abrams estate I understand from away her truck as it was in Clem’s trust that was the heaviest thing on her mind before her disappearance was they’re going to take my truck what am I going to do they wouldn’t even give me a
Ride home like what am I supposed to do I can’t have transportation why do they need my truck the truck belong to Clem’s trust and so if you’re Trustee of Clem’s trust and there’s an asset out there that belongs to the Clen abrs trust you kind
Of have to go get it I don’t think that there was any sort of desire to fight over um I think it was like a 2006 Ford truck right like I don’t I don’t think there needing to go collect an asset that belonged to the trust that was the straw that broke the
Cel’s back so to speak when they were trying to take the truck away di stated that she was cutting her kids out of her will the reason for that is why would you want to help people who were not willing to help you while Adia was in the middle of this
Court battle fighting for that is State she still had control over the three properties in the ID wild area Dia Abrams owned those three properties a completely separate time you know about March I think it was she had texted me and asked me would you mind being uh the executive in my
Will I’m thinking this woman has at least 20 more Years cuz she’s in great shape mentally just all there and it’s not going to be a thing so I said sure no problem she texted back I’m trying to get Keith Harper to say yes to being executive as
Well Dia changed her trust and that the children weren’t to be allowed on she states their names and she says I leave you my love which is is worth more than anything else I have Dia changed her trust about two weeks I think it was technically 15 days
Before she went missing she did not reach out to her kids in that intervening 15 days and say hey I updated my trust just want to let you know okay she did that basically in secrecy I found it highly suspicious Dia she feared extremely that her son
Would do something negative to her a lot of the times she would Express her concern for her efforts to control me and to shut me out of these fathers and Trust so many things run through your head but as far as I was concerned he still had something to do with it not
Himself personally I don’t think he would ever touch his mom that way or hurt his mom physically but he knew people that could or would just based on Dia’s statements do you said one state um I’m worried I I think he’s got connections with mob
People and in my mind I’m like I don’t want to hear this because that’s dangerous and it’s ridiculous I mean it’s just ridiculous to make that sort of allegation against him Clinton has absolutely no ties with go into her house she was adamant about that she
Goes do not let my children in the house all they care about are the things in the house what they can take what they can sell spoke to Di’s attorney and he obtained a copy of the power of attorney and a copy of the trust I remember Clinton coming up it
Felt like stand up at the okay Corral Clinton gets out of the truck the lawyer comes out of another car he walks up and Diana’s got the papers in hand and I said uh-uh I said here’s the paperwork from the attorney Dia named me an Harper as executive to her Will
Harper he left the property and I have our attorney here’s a document that says that I’m acting on Dia’s behalf and I made a promise to her that I would we didn’t realize at the time it was about to get so much worse of the truck I said you can’t leave with her
Property Dia hasn’t been gone long what if she came back we need to find her there was really no emotion coming from planton if my mom was missing I’d be yelling and screaming going where the heck is she and that’s when he said that the truck was part of his father’s trust and
That he’s taking it who does that it wasn’t worth anything it’s not like Dia didn’t have assets right she had three properties if she really needed a truck is it really that big of a deal for her to get a different vehicle I mean I I don’t understand what
The into that as one instance where they’re trying to spin it and make Clinton look like he was about to you know do harm to their mother the first place the next morning we went out on our ATVs to search for Dia Dia she’s missing she’s
Disappeared so you start having a lot of thoughts run through your mind like okay what else could have happened would she have ran away because she had so much on her plate like no she wouldn’t have ran away because she left her dog she left all of her other
Animals she left her phone her driver’s license all of her credit cards and a large sum of money behind does it make sense then we started thinking foul play Diana and I we started to put together scenarios in our minds and what they would have have to gain specific
Actions that they would take or not take in the pursuit of finding dear weeks are going by and D is still missing but the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department isn’t commenting on the case at all over time Harper seemed to be more interested in the property
And the ranch that he was in finding Dia I realized I didn’t know anything about Harper’s personality I didn’t know anything about his personal life I didn’t know him at all spoke the more I realized some of the things that he was saying didn’t make
Sense I mean he was the last one to see her when we kept thinking could he have could he have really hurt her eth Harper this is not someone as far as we could tell who had any sort of significant wealth after she goes missing all of a
Sudden Harper finds himself in a great situation he’s living on this 115 acre ranch his whole life changes that’s a big deal for someone in his situation and then you contrast that with what do the kids have to gain from DIA going missing very little they’re still going
To be provided for under any scenario Missing there is a lot of attention about me I’m the primary suspect cuz I’m the boyfriend what about the rants did you kill her because you wanted the ranch God know you know I’ve worked on a ranch ranching does not make make money I know how to make money I’m here
Because I loved the girl when somebody asked me did you kill her I’ve had that question asked and I said honestly you don’t kill people you love you kill people that you don’t Love and learned some things that were pretty shocking to us he had been convicted of sexual assault against two women in Colorado so Mr Harper ran some sort of business where he would take people around on snowmobile based on the court records he took these two women out on a snowmobile
Tour they alleged that he groped both of them and the authorities got involved and he was arrested and ultimately convicted of sexual assault in connection with that event that’s what required him to be registered as a sex offender he was sentenced to 12 months months in jail for that conviction I
Believe he served just short of N9 months I have this only conviction basically I have I was wrongly accused of that allegation it gets blown out of perspective but uh I will tell you that I was not guilty of that charge there’s not much more I will say on
That one of the things you definitely want to look at in that type of case is the nature of the relationship between Dia and the person who’s now benefiting under the trust document so Harper who is this Keith Harper guy was there Foul Play Here did something nefarious
Happen you begin to wonder over and over again the reason the fingers are being pointed because it’s pointed away for where they should look via Abrams was last seen June 6th 2020 if you have any information please contact the Riverside County Sheriff’s department at 951-955 2400 a few months after it possibly happened
Idea and I know that the police were looking at Harper because he’s the obvious suspect I didn’t want to believe it was Harper I didn’t want to believe it was their son Clinton to this point I don’t know where to cast suspicions to us he was Harper he was not really ruled out
Per se but we don’t know him I grew very fond of Dia and loved that girl I can understand their concern as our boyfriend husbands boyfriends are often the ones they look at and most of the time they’re the ones involved in the situation so I understood on March 16th of 2021 Dia’s
Kids made a surprising move in court so they filed a probate petition asking to remove Diana feder and Keith Harper as Trustees of the estate so the petition um is saying that they think that Harper could be a suspect in this disappearance of Dia Abrams we were trying to get Keith
Harper and Diana feder out of that position as trustee we wanted him out they’re not qualified to service truste Harper been breaching fiduciary duties meaning he had done things that um were wrong under the law that were they’re trying to point the finger I mean you
Just can’t come in and just demand that the trust be changed you have to have reasons why that change should occur we’ve learned that Harper started renting out multible structures on that ranch on Airbnb weddings all sorts of things that generated income he was depositing into his personal bank
Account so not in the name of DS trust which you know any trust lawyer will tell you you cannot do if you’re a trustee and you’re receiving rental income from a trust property you have to put that money in a trust bank account meaning a bank account that’s set up in
The name of VI trust the money to fight it uh or hire an attorney so I’m removing myself as Trustee of the estate Diana walked away from the case so she agreed not to seek to serve in any fiduciary role so Dia’s body hasn’t been found and really there’s no evidence that anything
Even happened to her accept that she’s missing so a lot of finger pointing of he said she said but at the end of the day she’s still missing so at this point there’s been no Persons of Interest that have have been released by The riverid as far as evidence or suspects or
Anything but Harper has a lot of things kind of working against him there’s definitely a lot of speculation on whether he’s a suspect or not I mean the community is definitely unsure it did really seem like he wanted to prove his innocence and kind of clear his Name at that point it’s nearly a year has come and pass so I contact Kelly Snider with a group out of Phoenix that comes in calls the find me organization the FindMe group work with law enforcement to try to connect families with their and intuitive resources when conventional methods of
Searching for people maybe doesn’t turn up any clues it’s not really uncommon to try some unconventional methods like psychics he works with approximately 100 psychics that helps you know make some predictions about these missing people cases even though you know Keith Harper might be sort of grasping its straws um
You know it’s not not surprising that he would you know try any method as he could to help find her when I talked to Kelly I said hey I I’ve lost a girlfriend she’s been gone almost a year now I need your help study uh di case we’re going to help you find
Her so as a result of that Kelly spend 6 weeks on the investigation by the time he comes out he basically says that he found her where she was Kelly said the body’s location was placed in Lake Hammond I remember calling the detective at the sheriff’s office I said you know you do have a dive team he great that goes on for about 20 minutes they go out approximately 40 yards you can see the bubbles where they go out then uh when they had found nothing I
Contacted Kelly I was a little frustrated on why they had not found anything under his recommendation I was pretty confident that they would but uh she was not found then so at the end of the day’s body wasn’t found in like himit and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department
Really didn’t um want to disclose any information about any evidence that might have been found so people and so they claim they’re only accurate about 30 to 35% of the time I have to be clear I can’t say that Keith Harper did it right I don’t have that information I don’t have personal
Knowledge of that all I can say is that his behavior after she went missing is highly suspect and his history before she went missing is highly suspect but we did achieve through the settlement agreement I was working with uh Dia’s attorney he said you know what my recommendation is you have a compromise
With him that you divide the property 50/50 and and let the pieces fall I agreed with that the court in their ruling basically agreed to divide the the property 50/50 with her children if any one of us are found to be guilty they are to receive nothing until such time as the 5-year
Mark is passed or if the is located and determined to be dead as a result of that that’s where we’re currently in the status of determining what the status is and what the ruling of the Court really means uh at least the main litigations in this
Matter I don’t see how he could make a different decision at this time to be fair to you if you know anything and you see what’s going on here what this poor lady had to go through please help we’re looking for information from anyone who might know what happened to
To DIA you have information about some sort of valou play where someone perhaps abducted her or even worse that’s the type of information we’re looking for do you know the whereabouts of of where her remains might be if that’s the situation um those are the types of things that we’re looking
For Clinton wants a reward post it because he wants people to come forward with information as to what happened to DIA so if anyone comes forward with information leading $100,000 Reward I want this to be over I I want to have some kind of conclusion um I think we’re close enough now that uh her case will move forward I’m very hopeful of that it’s interesting I don’t think you really evaluate how important a relationship is until you lose
It and once you have lost it then you realize how significant that relationship was if I could see de again I would just give her a big hug and cry and just be so happy to see her and then I’d be like darn you for disappearing like that darn
It darn it I would just oh I would just want to say everything’s going to be okay but if she’s not here and she’s in heaven I know that someday I’ll see her there and I know I’ll see her again and that gives me Comfort This missing person’s case was unusual and it continued to get more unusual I’m like we need to get up there because this is just not like Devonte I believe that this area is known for Cults in KKK underworld fighting I’m thinking every moment home me where’s my
Baby she’s at the center of a love triangle Brandy was crazy about the guy but it’s taking a toll she got a little upset it was kind of showing one of the customers said she was scared of someone hours later Brandy is gone it’s like she picked up her cell phone her
House keys a she just vanished is she a missing person is this actually a crime now could recent Clues finally solve this decade long mystery instead of trying to focus on who did it I tried to focus on finding her I remember these shoes this is the biggest break they’ve
Had in this case in years she couldn’t have just disappeared somebody has to [Applause] Know [Applause] It’s nearly 2:30 in the afternoon Friday May 20th 2005 North Charleston South Carolina Alex this is just a little diner in North Car mainly for locals one of the waitresses 32-year-old Brandy Hannah is about to leave for the day Brandy had requested the weekend off
Brandy was about to get a ride with a customer to take her home and she called her mother she didn’t want to leave without seeing her mother bry’s mom is the manager at Alex’s today she’s also bry’s relief she had plans you know for the afternoon so
She couldn’t wait for me to get there Brandy need needs her mother’s help with her new cell phone she wanted me to set up her voicemail so I told her I will be there shortly and then we’ll do it then her mother had bought her a new cell
Phone so they could talk um more often the restaurant is located in the southern end of North Charleston well North Charleston is kind of the sister city to Charleston it’s about 100,000 people there are parts of North Charleston that are great parts of North Charleston they’re not very good
Bry’s only been working here about 3 months but she’s been waitressing half her life she began at age 16 I would try to get her to weit tables to earn money for school clothes and all Brandy was a very pretty shy sweet girl but she was so shy back then she tried
To avoid the customers so she had hide in the kitchen and do things back there no no I can’t go out there I think eventually Brandy hit her stride and by the time she started working at Alex’s hanging back was a distant memory once she would get on that waitress floor it
Was like she just you know little personality came out very friendly outgoing apparently Brandy was very popular there she brought business she was that good the minute Donna arrives Brandy has her set up her voicemail on her new phone cuz I even teased her and I said
Well Brandy I’m going to put on your phone this is bry’s Mommy if you want to talk to her call her bry’s still self-conscious about the sound of her own voice so that’s the greeting she uses you know and we laughed about it but in the meantime Brandy is still
Using her old prepaid cell phone I didn’t want her running out of minutes and something happened and not be able to call and so that’s when I told her I will get you this phone for my peace of mind Donna has worked at Alex’s for almost 30 years
When Brandy joined her there it was more than just a job we really enjoyed that just seeing each other being together laughing cutting up Donna wanted her in her life more Donna was very young when she gave birth to Brandy she is my firstborn my only daughter Brandy spent
Part of her childhood living with extended family she was a bit of a tomboy growing up she even enrolled in Roc in High School ultimately she decided to become a waitress like her mom and revel in her many interests she could make something that you know the normal person would find
Ordinary into something super fantastic and fun she was very creative one of the things she liked to do was sketch on the back of her ticket book so she liked to draw she was a really good artist since Brandy came to work at Alex’s she and her mother have become closer than ever
They were friends and mothers and daughters grow up and that’s the best partment they can do that before walking out the door that Friday afternoon Brandy grabs an iced tea to go and says goodbye it was 3:00 Friday when she left I remember cuz Andy came and picked her up Andy ragau um
Would often give her a ride home from work he was a retired law enforcement officer he would drive people around just to make extra money but her apartment was a little too far away walk a few minutes later they up to bry’s apartment he told me that he can
Let her out of the car wait until she got inside safely before he pulled away he said the last thing she said to him was I’ll see you Monday bry’s North Charleston neighborhood is called chakur Cherokee you just don’t want your young daughter living in a neighborhood that
Is known for you know crime and drugs but at this point in her life it’s what Brandy can afford a nice apartment in a not so nice part of town her life had changed a tremendous amount in the past year she’d been seeing a guy for six
Years and had just stopped seeing him and had a new boyfriend she gave up her house and a lot of her belongings for him Brandy and her new love just moved into the apartment a month and a half earlier Brandy was crazy about the guy she seemed happier I mean she seemed
Like you know this is what she wanted but then according to Donna bry’s new boyfriend walked out on her without warning Brandy was absolutely distraught she was heartbroken why would you move her into this area and let her be alone which was my biggest fear yet Brandy
Decided she wanted to stay in the apartment alone to give herself time to figure out what she wanted after after Brandy gets home that Friday she spends the afternoon in her apartment Brandy is a home buddy a lot like me get home and you’re settled according to her friends and family
Brandy doesn’t like to go to clubs or drink when she’s not exhausted from work she socializes with a tight circle of friends at home she had said she was tired that day so I I just assumed she went home and took a nap she does spend
Time on her two phones so I talk to her several times she also hears from the man who recently left her Zeke Langford they have a long talk afterward Brandy talks to her mother again she was going to be waiting for Amy to get off work and then they were going
Shopping Amy McAdams is bry’s longtime friend she waitresses at a restaurant where Brandy once worked because Brandy plans to go to the beach the next morning she’s hoping Amy can can drive her to get a new swimsuit that night and she’s me that um Zeke might come by she
Wasn’t sure because they were you know talking but Amy’s shift runs unexpectedly late she says she lets Brandy know she’ll be delayed later that evening at Alex’s Restaurant Donna’s dinner rush is almost over and I was looking out a window towards where bry’s apartment was and I
Just got this got a a feeling that something was wrong she calls the new phone she just gave Brandy and I couldn’t get through Donna leaves a message then another I kept trying to call her because it was just a strong feeling and it was awful but Brandy
Doesn’t call but Brandy does text her ex-boyfriend Zeke later that night he says it’s about their plans to see each other finally bry’s friend Amy pulls up sometime after 10:30 didn’t get an answer Amy notices bry’s apartment is dark except for the flickering light from her TV she tried
To call bry’s cell phone her old one and she said she heard it ringing inside and assumed Brandy was asleep so she heads home without ever seeing Brandy the event of this night will be Revisited over and over by bry’s friends and loved ones I was expecting her to
Call me back her mother wanted to hope that Brandy was okay and some part of her head she feared the Worst after Donna parent can’t reach her daughter brand Andy Hannah Friday night May 20th 2005 she calls again Saturday morning there’s still no answer I kept trying to tell myself oh she’s just out doing something at work at Alex’s restaurant that day Donna tells bry’s friend Robin about bry’s silence I was
Just thinking she’s probably upset things aren’t going the way that she wanted with Zeke if Brandy already left for the beach maybe she didn’t take her new phone with her I work day shift I got off that afternoon I went by her apartment because it was daytime bry’s apartment is dark I tried
Calling her phone standing outside her door I couldn’t hear the phone ringing there was absolutely no sound another 24 hours pass Sunday mornings we used to do breakfast meet up at my Mom’s restaurant but this Sunday is different Brandy doesn’t show up I told I said I can’t find her I don’t
Know where she is maybe Brandy meant what she said to her ride on Friday afternoon last thing she said to him was I’ll see you Monday now Monday morning is here and it was 7 and I’m oh good they haven’t called me yet cuz she was supposed to be to work at 700 bry’s mother is hoping no news is good news back in April 20 5 Brandy chose her apartment on Florida Avenue its
Proximity to Alex’s restaurant where she works the neighborhood around her wasn’t great but she wasn’t alone then because she act like she was blissfully happy she just seemed like she had everything going good for her job new relationship was working out everything’s going good but Donna began to wonder when the
Couple came to her for a loan for the security depos closet on the apartment Zeke worked of and on for his father’s plumbing company when he moved in to Florida Avenue he was not working you’re trying to move for somewhere that I really disapprove and then now you’re
Coming to borrow money where it is really Laten the answer came a few weeks later when Zeke left Brandy to return to his wife and children well Zeke was still married he wasn’t divorced from his wife because of it Brandy was absolutely distraught was heartbroken but Brandy
Still had hope Zeke and his wife had been separated for about a year she just thought he was having a moment of weakness and that he was going to come back to her and they were going to be happy together but she didn’t like the
Fact that she felt like he wanted her to wait for him that she wasn’t going to play The Other Woman as much as she cared about him but that’s just not what she wanted by the time 7:20 Monday morning May 23rd Ticks by Donna is just starting to
Breathe a little easier she knew the restaurant would have called her if Brandy didn’t show it for work I had no sooner had this thought then my phone went off and it’s a uh employee from Alex’s informing Donna that uh Brandy didn’t show up okay this is not like her Brandy
Was diligent Brandy loved work never missed a day at work Donna contacts the North Charleston Police to report that her daughter is missing with an adult um you know people say an adult has the right to be missing she was 32 years old and they said she
Has free will she has a right to disappear and doesn’t have to take calls from her mother or anyone something’s not right here and we were all just like panicking because the police wouldn’t do anything as the police have told me if we chased down everybody that called in saying there
Wasn’t a missing adult we wouldn’t do anything else Donna immediately reaches out to Zeke Lankford he’s on a plumbing job that morning and I said look I know you have a keyed that apartment I need to get in there Donna asks him to meet her there but not to go
In yet when she pulls up to bry’s apartment Donna says that Zeke walks out he says well I was worried we were going to find something and I didn’t want you to walk in and see her body and I’m like what are you talking about despite her stepped outside
Everything was orderly no signs of any struggles or anything like that there was still her cup that she had to come Friday from work with a glass of tea there was a blanket on the couch and it looked like maybe she had curled up and everything else was normal and next to
Her unmade bed her prepaid cell phone is charging on the nightstand but the brand new phone Donna gave her is nowhere to be found it’s like she picked up her cell phone and her house keys and she just vanished four more days pass before a North Charleston detective goes to bry’s
Apartment to investigate I gave him the key I said please do whatever you need to do within an hour he was back I don’t see any problem I don’t think anyone thought there was any fou play her family fears exactly the opposite that bry’s been abducted or maybe
Worse as the days drag on with no word from Brandy Donna enlists friends and family to begin searching for her he’s asking people from the area you know if they seen anything some of them are like oh yeah you know she walks this way all
The time we see her all the time what’s going on they plaster bry’s neighborhood with missing Flyers where where she lived it was predominantly black and you’ve got this young white girl so of course stick out I fell off my husband come involved because he was a cop but because Brandy was his
Niece Henry SMY Jr is in charge of North Charleston’s boat unit he knows the area surrounding bry’s apartment well especially the old abandoned navy base and its reputation if you wanted to get rid of a body in a very urban city like North Charleston the Navy base is the
Perfect place to go if any building was abandoned we were in it if it was unlocked we were in it we searched everyone that we found open but her family and friends find no trace of Brandy meanwhile at bry’s apartment complex her landlords learn she’s Mia you know quite honestly I don’t think anybody there really knew Brandy and that she was a good person and in her character because she’d only been living there like a month and a half or so the
End of the month was coming and he told me Point Blank you either pack her stuff and get it out or I will put it in the street I was like what why do you have to do that so soon you know cuz at some
Point it’s kind of a toss of is she a missing person or is this actually a Crime bry’s lease is month to month and her rent is only paid through the end of May so not even 10 days since Donna last saw her daughter she and her sister they find a small can hidden under a table she had received a paycheck that day and
Plus her tips all of that money is inside it if she was going to up and leave don’t you think she would have taken all the money that she had to her name none of her clothing is missing either Brandy had this picture of her
And I she was a baby and it did not matter where she lived that picture went her money was in the apartment all her clothes and that picture and there’s no way she would have just walked away by June 1st 2005 only 10 days since she went missing bry’s apartment is
Vacant the detective never made it a crime scene it’s symbolic of how quickly traces of Brandy are beginning to disappear but two doors away Donna and North Charleston Police Officer hit on the lead I went to the complex here and I met with the young lady bry’s neighbor
Tells him that around 9 or 9:30 the night Brandy disappeared she saw her get into a truck it was a red truck with a white stripe down the side it had one other feature notable for its shock value it was a Jason mask tap to the grill of the truck One week has passed since Brandy Hannah vanished from her North Charleston Apartment and I kept thinking you know she’s going to turn up you know she’s going to turn up but she hasn’t sheta Johnson whose apartment is two doors away from bry’s has told police what she witnessed the night Brandy
Disappeared that a white male in a red truck pulled into the parking lot and Randy exited her apartment got into the truck she saw him in the parking lot but she never saw him leave Lieutenant Rick Keys is a friend of bry’s family family but isn’t officially on her case he took
Sheva’s statement that day I want to make sure that her line aside from what she was telling she was sin wasn’t obstructed in any way and that she wasn’t confused about what she saw because according to shaveta she saw who was behind the wheel the truck Cheta described
Resembles the vehicles of two men in bry’s life Zeke Langford and Ray it was a red one both men also work for Zeke’s father’s Plumbing Company the company trucks are distinctive they’re also red with a white stripe but only one truck has the unique hood ornament sheta says she saw it had
Been known that Ry had a hockey mask ajacent mask fixed to the front of his truck before Zeke Ray McAdams was bry’s long-term live-in boyfriend she’ been in a relationship with Ray for 6 years or so when started working at Alex’s she gave me the impression that she was afraid of
Ray but it hadn’t always been that way he wanted to marry her and at the time that they got engaged that was what she wanted until Ray’s close friend Zeke moved in with them Zeke fell on some hard times um was kind of going through
A divorce Ry was looking out for Zeke as a friend and letting him crash on the couch then Ray discovered that Brandy and Zeke had fallen for each other they were in his and bry’s house and it was only natural that he would feel betrayed
He kicked Zeke out I was told that he told Brandy she could stay but she opted to leave and go with Zeke but apparently Ray didn’t forget Brandy Ray kept trying to convince her that Zeke wasn’t right for her and that she needed to come back to him
But even when Ry and Brandy were together Donna didn’t think he was good for her daughter they were sitting in the restaurant one time and just out of the blue he said I can kill your daughter and get away with it kill her I’m like what are you talking about and
That’s when he said I could take her and make her disappear and you’d never know he had a problem with Donna I don’t know what it was I took it as he was a man and he was boasting making himself more than he was and I looked at him and
Told him I said that’s really a crazy thing to tell young lady’s mother now that Brandy actually has vanished Donna can’t help but wonder about that after sheta Johnson told Lieutenant Keys what she saw he proposed an idea would you be willing to take a ride with
Me and uh tell me if the guy that I talk to is him she said sure he had put a Bluetooth in his ear so that she could communicate with him I I knock on the door and he comes to the door and it’s not him you tell me it’s
Not him then know I’ll come back in the car we leave as soon as the door open and and and Ray is standing there he was the guy he was definitely the guy she is not just telling me it’s him she’s yelling in my ear to the point I’m afraid he’s
Going hear that I am not 98% sure I am 100% sure that was him But Ry has an alibi for the night Brandy disappeared he says he was at a club called the Plex trying to get a job as a bouncer a friend confirms he was with him bry’s other love interest Zeke Langford also has an alibi he kept
Saying he was going to me her but then he had to work and so he didn’t meet her he’s not in the area he’s allegedly on a job site Zeke’s brother-in-law confirms his story The Detectives question Zeke and they question Ry of course uh both gentlemen um kind of pointed a finger at
One another both said that they had nothing to do with her disappearance at all two weeks after Brandy went missing police asked both men to take a polygraph test ray came in roughly about 2 weeks after the fact and uh didn’t have any problems pass on the test but
Zeke didn’t take it for two months Zeke although he did pass his polygraph he was U more hesitant to take it at the exact same time another missing person case 1500 miles away begins making headlines around the world the search for an American Teenager missing in Aruba is being stepped up
18-year-old Natalie Holloway has been missing since Monday when she failed to return from a high school graduation trip the Alabama natives disappearance is even covered by Charleston’s own Poston Courier there was a lot of coverage for Natalie Holloway and I couldn’t understand because it was very little for
Brandy and as her mother you question it not that I was grudging her but you question why not for much he Donna writes a letter to the editor of the Post and Courier asking this question and I read that letter and said you know she’s absolutely right why
Haven’t we written a story about this now bry’s disappearance finally becomes front page news in her own Hometown Brandy has blonde hair blue eyes and weighs 115 pounds he’s 32 years old outside Alex’s restaurant where Donna works and Brandy used to a banner goes up you could actually see from the
Interstate with bry’s picture on it and you know missing Brandy Hannah and a telephone number to leave tips she couldn’t have just disappeared somebody has to know but the neighborhood’s been quiet I had a lot of context uh and they said we’re not hearing anything Rick we’re not hearing
Anything about her disappearance even after a reward is offered and in these missing person cases you know the longer you go the less likely you are to find anything but while researching his article on Brandy Brian Hicks uncovers new information one of the customers said she’d gotten a call and she was scared
Of someone the call reportedly came in Friday during bry’s shift cuz there was a time where she got a little upset it was kind of showing and I asked her what was going on according to Robin the call had something to do with Zeke’s wife
Diana I don’t know if the phone call was actually Diana calling her or somebody calling Brandy telling her that Diana had a problem with her could this have had anything to do with bry’s disappearance 3 months after Brandy vanished an official search is conducted dogs are brought in to track bry’s scent
We had items that belong to Brandy that I took with me the search is led by the Q Center for missing persons the North Charleston Police participate with bry’s friends and family and then another person shows up Zeke Langford my niece was with us and Zeke looked at her cuz he was really
Concerned about the dogs and said can the dogs smell her smell anything if she’s covered up afterward Zeke is asked by authorities not to participate again but the search ultimately results in no new leads and because Zeke has a confirmed Alibi for the night Brandy disappeared
The police have no reason to focus on him 7 months pass before there’s a new and unexpected twist I was shocked I’m thinking oh my God if he had something to do with it I’ll never know It’s April 2006 almost 11 months since Brandy Hannah disappeared I was at work and the phone rank the caller is the mother of bry’s ex-boyfriend 34-year-old Ry McAdams she has some stunning news her son had passed that he had had a fatal heart [Applause] attack she didn’t want me to hear it on
The news or anything there’s no way to know if Ry may have treated as a homicide at the time I think the target would have been Ray the ex-boyfriend but the North Charleston Police never did a forensic analysis of Ray’s truck or the red and white Langford Plumbing trucks Zeke often
Drove so it quite possibly could have been either one of them in that [Applause] truck but Ray’s Alibi had a hitch his sister-in-law Amy McAdams bry’s best friend says she dropped off some things for Ray around 9:30 or so Amy was married to Ray’s brother at the time but
Ry had told police he was at a nearby club there then his story was that he went to the Plex that night approximately 8 8:30 and were there all night till 1: or 2 in the morning police never get to the bottom of this inconsistency two weeks after Rey’s
Death Brandy’s Uncle North Charleston officer Henry SMY Jr also passes away from cancer he tried everything to find out what happened to his niece he can never find anything not a sign not a struggle on anything before he died he made a promise to bry’s Mom I
Realized how sick he was just the way he was he looked and everything and he told me he told her when he got to Heaven he would find Brandy he would find out what happened he would find a way to get back to her Donna had a long line of detectives who
Were very serious for a while and uh they would move on and be transferred or give up on the case as you know just another cold case but years pass with nothing but false sightings and dead ends I needed help I wanted somebody that acted like they cared it’s been six
Long years since Brandy’s Banner went up outside Alex’s Restaurant something about her her eyes in the poster stood out it resonates with a member of the North Charleston Police Force with no ties to bry’s case I don’t do missing person’s cases but Sergeant Ron Locker reaches out to Donna I introduced myself
Told her who I was uh told her I didn’t have any information on the case but I would like to talk to her about it he asks if he can reopen bry’s case and I told him then but her missing you pray for an angel he was my
Angel Sergeant Locker digs deep into bry’s case File and reins Original’s case were never investigated case in point the phone call Brandy allegedly received at Alex’s Restaurant the day she disappeared it was in the notes that she was uh very unnerved uneasy I wanted to see if I can
Get the phone records to see if I can get a number of who may have called her but with the time that had elapsed you know cuz I came in 6 years after the fact the records are gone and Not only was Ray mcadam’s Truck never processed for blood or DNA nobody
Seems to know where this red truck went the same is true for the lenford plumbing trucks but there’s one lead the detective does resurrect Donna gave me a call one afternoon and said Hey Ron sheta is here 6 years earlier by her own account Cheta Johnson was the last person to keep Brandy
Alive and she ided Ray McAdams he was the guy he was definitely the guy as the man who picked up Brandy now Sergeant Locker wants to talk to her he wanted to go back through her story again just like it was new I showed her a couple pictures and she was
Very adamant that Dee now was the one that she saw that evening in the truck picking up brand new but initially she had ided Ray now Z no hesitation whatsoever Sergeant Locker says he wonders if sheeta’s original identification was influenced by the fact that she was taken directly to Ry
Could she have been mistaken Ry was taller than Zeke a little heavier but from a distance especially if they were seated both had the same facial characteristics round face both had the same straggly hair both would have had like slight beards so could have been either one yet Sergeant Locker
Perseveres he also changes tactics instead of trying to focus on who may have been responsible or who did it I kind of tried to focus on finding her first he decides to look for bry’s remains in The Logical spots near her old apartment my theory into her disappearance was that she was Murdered it brings him back to North Charleston’s Old Navy base a place bry’s family searched repeatedly now it’s both a Riverfront Park and an industrial area but in 2005 the park was actually being built so that whole area was already dug up on the Northern edge of the Navy base was
An old golf course over the years it’s slowly been swallowed by salt marsh sits there on the water with a lot of marsh front and it’s filled with back in 2005 the course was crisscrossed by dirt roads they were basically for the golf carts but they’re definitely wide enough for a vehicle
Sergeant Locker’s investigation widens to include this area I went throwing a bunch of old clothes could down with a shovel and um start digging just in random areas it almost seems like a wild goo Chase until he gets an idea I wait until low tide once the water got low
Enough I walked down um right beyond the cement wall there is where the whole Pier is Locker digs deep into the sand under it I hooked a a metal ring um it was hollowed out in the center kind of like a ring of a 55 gallon drum and when I
Had pulled the shovel the ring came with it with that came the shoe this is the big biggest break they’ve had in this case in years I remember these shoes could this lead to something could we be moving a stamp instead of just standing Still in May of 2011 Sergeant Ron Locker breathes New Hope into Brandy Hannah’s Miss person’s case with his unusual find a woman’s Nike sneaker size 10 and half rny was a tall thin female approximately wore a size 10 shoe they’re Nike cross trainer shoes so you would have to buy
Them a half size bigger or a size bigger the day she worked in Alex’s she was last seen wearing white and blue Nike women’s Cross Trainer shoe and there’s yet another intriguing detail I checked the date code on the tongue of the shoe it was January 28th 5 4 months before Brandy
Went but there’s only one way to know if it’s Brandy’s sneaker bring it back package it send it off to the lab for DNA while waiting for those results Sergeant Locker zeros in on where he found it I wanted to excavate that area to see if um you know there’s any bone
Fragments that we could or any clothing that we could locate so the police actually brought in the state archaeologist and a team of professionals they dug on this site seeing if they could find anything else for three days the team digs and sips through the title Sands but we weren’t
Able to find anything there once more Donal was left disappointed it’s not until August 2015 4 years later that Sergeant Locker gets a definitive and no human DNA so we cannot confirm that it was hers and we can’t say it wasn’t either but the size
The color the date on the shoe it was all consisted cuz she had just bought these shoes before she disappeared I mean what are the odds of the same size same color same make the date code and in an area that’s so remote where I believe a body was
Disposed of so in my mind it’s hers but can the sneakers somehow tell him more Sergeant Locker has a theory that originates Upstream along the path of the Cooper River’s tidal currents back over that way is going to be the old golf course so I believe her
Body was put on the old golf course and then the sneaker would have come down through the inlet wrapped around the island here and made its way down the shoreline and you keep going down the shoreline it will eventually take you down to where the cement Pier is where I located
It and earlier that summer a cadav dog search on Old Golf Course yielded a positive hit there as Ron explained it to me they picked up the scent of human remains it’s going to be off off to the left over here probably about 100 yards in could Brandy be there the challenge
Is the salt marsh it’s impassible any time except low tide during the winter but Sergeant Locker says that won’t stop him we’re going to excavate that area as well when finding some remains right after bry’s Disappearance in 2005 her mother wondered if one or both of her daughter’s ex-boyfriends
Might have had something to do with bry’s disappearance but she’s changed her thinking I became convinced to a degree that Ry really wasn’t involved when I would hold a vigil he would come to it I even called Ray one day and I told him I’m sorry I’ve been so hard on
You he was very sadden his action showed that whereas Z would talk to me and there was no emotion back in 2005 Langford told the Poston Courier he didn’t know what happened to Brandy he said he suspected Ry knew more than he was telling and he feared the
Worst but to date police have never had conclusive evidence either man was involved the Alex’s restaurant where both Brandy and Donna used to work closed in 2012 former customers often ask about Brandy hoping for an answer that still hasn’t come there’s so much he said she said he
See with no real um no real Clues ftin she’s with God I want want for her mother to be able to sleep at night and I always tell I should no don’t give up hope Hope’s all we have maybe one day we’ll find out what happened I still cling to Hope I
Try to tell myself she has Amnesia she doesn’t know who she is but really you know you don’t you don’t want you never give a hope if you have any information about Brandy Hannah or her disappearance please contact Sergeant Ron locker with the North Charleston Police Department at 843300 8241 homus Hom You Clus clus arctus Thus Reus
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