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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Hannah Truelove · Hell and Gone: Murder Line

0:46
Speaker 1: School of Humans. Helen Got Murder Line actively investigates cold
0:52
Speaker 1: case murders in an effort to raise public awareness invite
0:55
Speaker 1: witnesses to come forward and present evidence that could potentially
0:58
Speaker 1: be further investigated by law enforcement. While we value insights
1:03
Speaker 1: from family and community members, their statements should not be
1:06
Speaker 1: considered evidence and point to the challenges of verifying facts
1:10
Speaker 1: inherent in cold cases. We remind listeners that everyone has
1:14
Speaker 1: presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
1:17
Speaker 1: Nothing in the podcast is intended to state or imply
1:21
Speaker 1: that anyone who has not been convicted of a crime
1:24
Speaker 1: is guilty of any wrongdoing. Thanks for listening.
1:32
Speaker 2: On August twenty fourth, twenty twelve, a Vietnam veteran who
1:36
Speaker 2: had been visiting the Lake Linear Club apartments off the
1:39
Speaker 2: Dawsonville Highway in Gainesville, Georgia with his daughter and grandchildren,
1:43
Speaker 2: was taking a walk through the woods behind the complex
1:47
Speaker 2: the man light taking nature walks, and he was also
1:51
Speaker 2: following up on a report that he had made to
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Speaker 2: the apartment management about a missing manhole cover. He later
1:57
Speaker 2: told police he wanted to see if that manhole cover
1:59
Speaker 2: had been replaced yet. It was around seven or seven
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Speaker 2: fifteen pm in the evening, still almost full daylight, and
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Speaker 2: when the man paused near a stream bed, he saw
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Speaker 2: something disturbing, something that he had first thought was a mannequin.
2:16
Speaker 2: Upon closer inspection, he realized that he was looking at
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Speaker 2: a dead body, and he called nine to one one.
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Speaker 2: The young woman was sixteen year old Hannah Truelove, a
2:30
Speaker 2: student at Gainesville High School. Hannah had been missing since
2:33
Speaker 2: the night before, and even though her exact cause of
2:37
Speaker 2: death has not been revealed, police say she died a
2:40
Speaker 2: violent death. She had been stabbedultiple times and left in
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Speaker 2: the stream bed a quarter mile away from home. Her
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Speaker 2: flip flop was found a few yards away, tangled in
2:52
Speaker 2: some branches. Who killed Hannah Tree Love? I'm Catherine Townsend.
2:59
Speaker 2: Over the past seven years of making my true crime podcast,
3:02
Speaker 2: Helen Gone, I've received hundreds of messages from people all
3:06
Speaker 2: around the country asking for help with an unsolved murder
3:09
Speaker 2: that's affected them, their families, and their communities. If you
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Speaker 2: have a case she'd like me and my team to
3:15
Speaker 2: look into, you can reach out to us at our
3:18
Speaker 2: Helen Gone Murder line at six seven eight seven four
3:21
Speaker 2: four six one four five. That's six seven eight seven
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Speaker 2: four four six one four five, or you can send
3:29
Speaker 2: us a message on Instagram at Hell and Gone pod.
3:34
Speaker 2: This is Helen Gone murder line. Hannah Truelove's autopsy reports
4:21
Speaker 2: have never been made public, but information has come out
4:25
Speaker 2: through the media over the years, and some of the
4:27
Speaker 2: investigators on the case have commented publicly on her injuries.
4:32
Speaker 2: Hannah was stabbed several times, but because it had rained
4:36
Speaker 2: heavily the night before, a lot of crucial evidence had
4:39
Speaker 2: been washed away. There was very little blood at the
4:42
Speaker 2: crime scene. Even so, it seemed like a frenzied attack.
4:47
Speaker 2: Police investigated Hannah's timeline. They were trying to figure out
4:51
Speaker 2: her pattern of movement, what was going on in her life,
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Speaker 2: and who might have wanted to hurt her. Hannah Osborne
4:58
Speaker 2: Truelove was born on May eighteenth, nineteen ninety six. Her parents,
5:02
Speaker 2: Jeff and mona true Love, divorced when she was seven
5:05
Speaker 2: years old, so she lived with her mother. Hannah had
5:09
Speaker 2: two older siblings, a brother and a sister, both of
5:12
Speaker 2: them already lived on their own. Her father, Jeff, lived
5:17
Speaker 2: in Jackson County, Georgia, which was just a short drive away.
5:21
Speaker 2: Hannah and her mother lived at the Lake Lanier Club apartments.
5:25
Speaker 2: It's an upscale neighborhood and generally a safe area. It's
5:29
Speaker 2: gated and you need an access code to get in,
5:32
Speaker 2: though the area near the waterline is open to the public,
5:36
Speaker 2: and since investigators haven't released the exact location where Hannah
5:40
Speaker 2: was found, it's hard to say for sure if her
5:43
Speaker 2: the killer would have needed an access code to get in,
5:47
Speaker 2: or if they could have been invited in or possibly
5:49
Speaker 2: broken in or snuck in. Interestingly, though Lake Lanier is
5:55
Speaker 2: beautiful and the largest lake in Georgia, it's also one
5:58
Speaker 2: of the deadliest lakes in the United States. About seven
6:02
Speaker 2: hundred people have died there in total. There have been
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Speaker 2: a lot of news stories about the unexplained deaths in
6:08
Speaker 2: the lakes, drownings, boating accidents, and foul play. Not only
6:13
Speaker 2: is the lake dangerous, but rescues are challenging because divers
6:17
Speaker 2: have very little visibility below the water surface, mainly because
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Speaker 2: of all the debris that's there, which includes construction materials,
6:24
Speaker 2: sunken boats, and random trash. Some people even believe that
6:28
Speaker 2: the lake is haunted, but deaths in the water aside.
6:32
Speaker 2: The area around Lake Lanier is generally thought of as
6:35
Speaker 2: very safe, so Hannah's family and friends were shocked by
6:40
Speaker 2: the brutal attack. Hannah's family and friends say she loved
6:45
Speaker 2: animals and had dreams of studying veterinary medicine and maybe
6:48
Speaker 2: one day becoming a vet. She helped take care of
6:51
Speaker 2: the family pets, a Yorkshire Terrier and two cats while
6:55
Speaker 2: her mom, Mona.
6:56
Speaker 3: Was at work.
6:57
Speaker 2: At about six feet tall, Hannah was striking. She seemed
7:01
Speaker 2: to take an interest in modeling. Some reports say she
7:04
Speaker 2: actually did some modeling, others say that she was just
7:07
Speaker 2: interested in getting into it, but either way, she was
7:10
Speaker 2: very active in extracurricular activities, including gymnastics, singing, and music.
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Speaker 2: In general, Hannah was a happy and loving teenager, but
7:19
Speaker 2: she had had some issues in the past with truancy.
7:22
Speaker 2: The Division of Family and Children's Services visited her at
7:26
Speaker 2: home for not showing up at school. Also, Hannah and
7:30
Speaker 2: her mother had gotten into fights in the past. Police
7:33
Speaker 2: had responded to the home at one point after one
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Speaker 2: of these arguments, which Hannah said happened because of Mona's drinking.
7:41
Speaker 2: According to media reports, Mona had had multiple dwis in
7:45
Speaker 2: the past, but on August twenty third, it didn't seem
7:49
Speaker 2: as though there was any major drama at home other
7:52
Speaker 2: than Hannah and her mother having a disagreement over whether
7:55
Speaker 2: or not Hannah could have a cell phone. That day,
7:58
Speaker 2: Hannah went to school. She also met with her DCFS
8:01
Speaker 2: case manager. Hannah was behind at school and apparently taking
8:05
Speaker 2: both sophomore classes and junior classes. As she tried to
8:08
Speaker 2: catch up, she talked to her caseworker about improving her
8:12
Speaker 2: math grade so that she could take eleventh grade math.
8:15
Speaker 2: According to the caseworker, the meeting went well and Hannah
8:18
Speaker 2: seemed to be in a good mood. After school, Hannah
8:21
Speaker 2: went home. She didn't see her mom, but Mona assumed
8:25
Speaker 2: that Hannah had been inside the apartment because Hannah's normal
8:28
Speaker 2: routine was to drop her stuff off inside and then
8:32
Speaker 2: to head outside to the grassy area by the picnic
8:34
Speaker 2: tables to hang out with friends. Police also talked to
8:38
Speaker 2: some neighbors at the Lake Lanier Club apartments who said
8:41
Speaker 2: they saw Hannah hanging out near the complex at four
8:44
Speaker 2: pm on Thursday. They have also stated that in the
8:47
Speaker 2: late afternoon, she was sitting on some wooden steps that
8:51
Speaker 2: led to the walking trails behind the apartment complex. She
8:55
Speaker 2: was also seen at around seven thirty pm by neighbors
8:58
Speaker 2: sitting at the apartment complex picnic tables. Mona worked long
9:03
Speaker 2: hours from around seven am to seven pm, and when
9:06
Speaker 2: she got back to the apartment that day, the mail
9:09
Speaker 2: from the house and Hannah's belongings were inside, and Hannah
9:13
Speaker 2: presumably was outside. But Hannah might have been outside for
9:17
Speaker 2: another reason besides her routine. She may have been avoiding
9:20
Speaker 2: her mother. Hannah's father, Jeff, was on Nancy Grace in
9:24
Speaker 2: September twenty twelve along with one of the detectives working
9:28
Speaker 2: the case, and he shed some light on the timeline.
9:31
Speaker 2: On August twenty third, he told Nancy Grace that Mona
9:35
Speaker 2: called him at around nine pm saying that Hannah hadn't
9:39
Speaker 2: come home. Jeff said that she asked him if Hannah
9:42
Speaker 2: was with him, and when he said no, Mona said
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Speaker 2: that she hadn't come home and that was starting to
9:47
Speaker 2: get dark. Both Mona and Jeff were immediately concerned. Jeff
9:52
Speaker 2: said that after Mona called him to say that Hannah
9:54
Speaker 2: was missing, he kept calling back every few minutes, but
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Speaker 2: Hannah never showed up back home, so Jeff said that
10:03
Speaker 2: Mona called him back at around ten fifteen PM and
10:06
Speaker 2: let him know that she had called the police to
10:09
Speaker 2: report Hannah missing. At that point, Jeff said, quote, she
10:13
Speaker 2: said that she'd called the law and that she's sure
10:15
Speaker 2: she is run away. And I said, well, why would
10:18
Speaker 2: she run away? She goes she's upset with me, and
10:22
Speaker 2: I said, well, okay, you know, but.
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Speaker 3: She wouldn't run away. End quote.
10:27
Speaker 2: This made me wonder about the family dynamic. It sounds
10:31
Speaker 2: like Jeff and Mona didn't agree on everything, but that
10:34
Speaker 2: they were trying their best to co parent, which of
10:36
Speaker 2: course is not uncommon in parenting teens after divorces. Jeff
10:41
Speaker 2: said that Hannah and her mother had been arguing because
10:44
Speaker 2: her mother would not allow Hannah to have a cell phone,
10:47
Speaker 2: and Jeff said he didn't necessarily agree with that decision.
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Speaker 3: He said that he was going to get his daughter
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Speaker 3: a phone.
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Speaker 2: According to a verified friend of the family who posted
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Speaker 2: on websleus, without a phone, Hannah was only able to
11:01
Speaker 2: communicate with her father if he called her mother or
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Speaker 2: if he came by the apartment and parked in a
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Speaker 2: space that she could see from the apartment. Despite these difficulties,
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Speaker 2: Hannah and her father were in touch a lot. That
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Speaker 2: friend on websleus so that Jeff had spent a lot
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Speaker 2: of time with Hannah that summer and that they had
11:19
Speaker 2: standing dinner dates.
11:23
Speaker 3: The Gainesville Police.
11:24
Speaker 2: Department initially responded to Mona's missing persons call, but when
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Speaker 2: Hannah's body was found the next day on Friday evening
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Speaker 2: across the county line, Hall County Police took.
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Speaker 3: Over the investigation.
11:37
Speaker 2: Sergeant Stephen Wilbanks from the Hall County Sheriff's Office told
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Speaker 2: Nancy Grace that police believed Hannah's body had not been
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Speaker 2: taken elsewhere and then dumped. They believed that Hannah was
11:50
Speaker 2: killed at the location where her body was found. He
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Speaker 2: also said on the program that he believed that whoever
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Speaker 2: killed Hannah was familiar with that area and familiar with
12:00
Speaker 2: the walking paths running back by the lake, the ones
12:03
Speaker 2: that ran past the apartment complex where Hannah lived. Several
12:08
Speaker 2: residents posted online complaining about a lack of safety at
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Speaker 2: the Lake Linear Club apartments. This complex had a reputation
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Speaker 2: as being safe, but these commenters said that sometimes gates
12:20
Speaker 2: were left broken for long periods of time, so anyone
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Speaker 2: could get into the apartments without a code. They also
12:26
Speaker 2: talked about how a lot of people had had their
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Speaker 2: apartments broken into and had things stolen even during the day.
12:34
Speaker 2: Because Hannah didn't have a phone, there were no cell
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Speaker 2: phone records to go through. There was also rumor by
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Speaker 2: the way that police investigated that Hannah could possibly have
12:44
Speaker 2: had a secret cell phone, but according to media reports,
12:47
Speaker 2: this was never proven. But law enforcement did go through
12:51
Speaker 2: Hannah's social media. She was very active on Twitter, and
12:54
Speaker 2: she also used her Nintendo DS to communicate with friends,
12:58
Speaker 2: so they confiscated the gaming system, but according to media reports,
13:03
Speaker 2: they didn't find anything useful on Hanna's Nintendo DS. But
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Speaker 2: Hannah did have several cryptic tweets, some seem to reference
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Speaker 2: a breakup. She posted lyrics from the U two song,
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Speaker 2: one which read quote did I ask too much more
13:19
Speaker 2: than a lot?
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Speaker 3: You gave me nothing? Now it's all of God end quote.
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Speaker 2: So she seemed to be posting quotes about love and loss,
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Speaker 2: and then shortly before her murder, Hannah also had other
13:32
Speaker 2: more disturbing tweets, including one that mentioned a stalker. Hannah
13:46
Speaker 2: Truelove's case is still technically an open case, so our
13:49
Speaker 2: four yer request has not come through, and even thirteen
13:53
Speaker 2: years later, there is a lot of speculation online about
13:57
Speaker 2: what happened to Hannah. Since there are a lot of
14:00
Speaker 2: rumors floating around about this case, I do think it's
14:03
Speaker 2: important to rule out possibilities when we can. Some people
14:08
Speaker 2: have asked about the man who found Hannah's body, especially
14:11
Speaker 2: because in his nine one one call he mentioned that
14:15
Speaker 2: he found the body of a young woman who looked
14:18
Speaker 2: like she had been dead for two or three days.
14:21
Speaker 3: Now. His name has.
14:22
Speaker 2: Never been publicly released, but it was revealed on the
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Speaker 2: Nancy Gray Show. The man who found Hannah's body was
14:28
Speaker 2: visiting his daughter and his grandchildren.
14:31
Speaker 3: He was interviewed by police.
14:32
Speaker 2: He was very cooperative and he was ruled out as
14:35
Speaker 2: a suspect, and police have said several times they think
14:40
Speaker 2: that Hannah's murderer was someone she knew. Her father, Jeff,
14:44
Speaker 2: was the one who identified her body. He told Nancy
14:47
Speaker 2: Gray's quote, it looks like she got the crap beat
14:50
Speaker 2: out of her, possibly by another girl, because she had
14:53
Speaker 2: a lot of scratches on.
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Speaker 3: Her face end quote.
14:56
Speaker 2: Hannah's parents said that to their knowledge, she had not
14:59
Speaker 2: had a serious boyfriend, but we do have to consider
15:02
Speaker 2: the possibility that she did have love interest. That her
15:05
Speaker 2: parents or even some of her friends may not have
15:08
Speaker 2: known about. There are a lot of posts on social media,
15:12
Speaker 2: especially comments on old Facebook posts about the case, alluding
15:16
Speaker 2: to a love triangle with a friend of Hannah's and
15:18
Speaker 2: a local high school guy who was dating Hannah's female friend.
15:23
Speaker 2: This person, according to multiple comments, was the son of
15:26
Speaker 2: someone who worked in law enforcement. He's been identified on
15:29
Speaker 2: social media, but I have no idea if the love
15:32
Speaker 2: triangle rumors are true or not, so I'm not naming
15:35
Speaker 2: him here. There are other tweets from Hannah that reference
15:39
Speaker 2: possible fighting with her mom, including one from May that
15:42
Speaker 2: talked about Hannah making her mother's nose. But again, there
15:46
Speaker 2: was no evidence that Hannah and her mother were having
15:49
Speaker 2: any kind of a serious conflict on August twenty third,
15:52
Speaker 2: or that they interacted much at all, because by the
15:55
Speaker 2: time her mom got home, Hannah was already outside. But
15:59
Speaker 2: the family drama was a prevalent topic on social media
16:03
Speaker 2: and on comments below.
16:05
Speaker 3: A lot of articles about the murder.
16:08
Speaker 2: After an initial flurry of articles, by the way, Hannah's
16:11
Speaker 2: case pretty much disappeared from the headlines. A lot of
16:16
Speaker 2: commenters seemed to feel that that could be because of
16:19
Speaker 2: what Hannah was going through at home. They and I
16:22
Speaker 2: wonder if Hannah didn't get as much coverage as some
16:25
Speaker 2: other cases due to the DCFS investigation. Maybe she wasn't
16:29
Speaker 2: seen as the perfect victim. Still, even in twenty twenty five,
16:35
Speaker 2: way too often we see that coverage of missing teen
16:38
Speaker 2: cases where the victims are described as straight A students
16:41
Speaker 2: or beauty queens get preferential treatment. It's not right, but
16:46
Speaker 2: it still happens. In the weeks and months that followed
16:50
Speaker 2: Hannah's murder, a lot of theories were getting posted on
16:53
Speaker 2: social media, including on Facebook, and a lot of people
16:57
Speaker 2: claiming to be in hand to social circle were weighing in.
17:01
Speaker 2: But in the actual police investigation, Sergeant Wilbanks of the
17:06
Speaker 2: Hall County Sheriff's Office said on Nancy Grace that police
17:10
Speaker 2: had run into some problems because some of the people
17:13
Speaker 2: in Hannah's community were not cooperating with law enforcement. Commoners
17:18
Speaker 2: online wondered were the people in her social circle afraid
17:23
Speaker 2: or was there some other reason why they weren't cooperating.
17:26
Speaker 2: There is a lot that we don't know about Hannah's
17:29
Speaker 2: last movements, like which friends she was seen with.
17:33
Speaker 3: We know that Hannah was talking.
17:34
Speaker 2: To people at the picnic tables, but we don't know
17:37
Speaker 2: who those people were.
17:39
Speaker 3: They haven't been named publicly.
17:41
Speaker 2: We do know that some of her friends apparently told
17:44
Speaker 2: police they last saw her at seven thirty before they
17:48
Speaker 2: left the apartment complex to go home, and at around
17:51
Speaker 2: the same time, some neighbors at the complex told police.
17:54
Speaker 3: They saw her at the picnic tables.
17:56
Speaker 2: So seven point thirty seems to be the last time
17:59
Speaker 2: when Hannah was seen alive. But there's another theory that
18:04
Speaker 2: Hannah had a stalker. Looking back through Hannah's tweets, she
18:09
Speaker 2: talked about being afraid. On August twelfth, she tweeted, quote,
18:13
Speaker 2: I have a scary ass stalker end quote. We don't
18:18
Speaker 2: know the full history of those tweets, so it's very
18:20
Speaker 2: hard to judge with no context. Could she have been
18:23
Speaker 2: talking about her mom maybe being sarcastic, or was there.
18:28
Speaker 3: Someone she was actually afraid of.
18:31
Speaker 2: Hannah's father, Jeff, also made some comments on a news
18:33
Speaker 2: program about Hannah not wanting to ride the school bus
18:37
Speaker 2: and possibly being afraid to ride the school bus. The
18:41
Speaker 2: school bus comments could have been because Hannah was a
18:43
Speaker 2: afraid of encountering someone, but then again, her dad was
18:47
Speaker 2: teaching her to drive, and like a lot of teens,
18:51
Speaker 2: Hannah was focused on getting a license and getting your
18:53
Speaker 2: own car, so that could have been while she was
18:56
Speaker 2: making comments about not wanting to ride the bus. There
18:59
Speaker 2: was another tweet that caught my eye. On August twenty third,
19:02
Speaker 2: she tweeted, quote, I've got to get out of these.
19:05
Speaker 3: Dang apartments end quote.
19:07
Speaker 2: She was tweeting that she wanted to move out of
19:09
Speaker 2: the apartments where she and her mom were living.
19:12
Speaker 3: The police chalk the.
19:13
Speaker 2: Stalker tweets up to teenage drama rather than any specific threat.
19:18
Speaker 2: The original detective assigned to the case, Lieutenant Franklin, told
19:22
Speaker 2: The Gainesville Times quote, with the help of family and
19:25
Speaker 2: friends and numerous interviews, we were able to build the
19:28
Speaker 2: context of those tweets and to vet them out, and
19:31
Speaker 2: basically they were just her venting, and there was nothing
19:35
Speaker 2: that was a legitimate threat that came from those end quote.
19:38
Speaker 2: Lieutenant Franklin said the tweet was referencing a guy at
19:42
Speaker 2: Hannah's school who liked himana, but apparently Hannah didn't like
19:46
Speaker 2: him back. Lieutenant Franklin said the boy had shown up
19:50
Speaker 2: at her house with flowers. He was interviewed and eliminated
19:53
Speaker 2: as a possible suspect. Lieutenant Franklin reiterated that police believed
19:58
Speaker 2: Hannah's killer was not a random stalker, that she knew
20:01
Speaker 2: her killer, and Lieutenant Franklin also said something else publicly
20:05
Speaker 2: for the first time, that he believed Hannah may have
20:08
Speaker 2: been killed by more than one person, or that at
20:12
Speaker 2: least more than one person may have been present while
20:16
Speaker 2: she was attacked. He talked about how he hoped that
20:19
Speaker 2: detectives would be able to talk to those people, saying, quote,
20:23
Speaker 2: who we try to reach are not necessarily the person
20:26
Speaker 2: that had the knife in their hand, but anybody that
20:28
Speaker 2: was present and maybe would be less culpable and didn't
20:31
Speaker 2: have as much responsibility, but was just there, maybe in
20:35
Speaker 2: a situation they didn't want to be in.
20:37
Speaker 3: End quote, but investigators.
20:41
Speaker 2: Do have one lead that they've been chasing for years.
20:52
Speaker 2: Police did a lot of interviews, but at first had
20:55
Speaker 2: no clear suspects. The investigation was also complicated because the
21:00
Speaker 2: knight Hannah disappeared, it rained heavily two to three inches,
21:04
Speaker 2: and this rain washed away a lot of physical evidence.
21:08
Speaker 2: Ten years after Hannah's murder, Lieutenant Franklin talked to a
21:11
Speaker 2: local news channel eleven Alive News and took the reporter
21:15
Speaker 2: to the ravine where Hannah's body was found. Lieutenant Franklin
21:19
Speaker 2: told the reporter he believed that the spot where Hannah
21:22
Speaker 2: was killed could be an important clue because it was
21:25
Speaker 2: kind of a perfectly chosen spot. He believed that if
21:29
Speaker 2: Hannah was killed elsewhere, someone would have heard or seen something,
21:33
Speaker 2: but that spot was just remote enough, probably further pointing
21:37
Speaker 2: to the theory that Hannah's killer or killers knew the area.
21:41
Speaker 2: It would also presumably have been difficult to drag Hannah
21:44
Speaker 2: to that location kicking and screaming again. Police believe Hannah
21:49
Speaker 2: knew her killer and went down to the area willingly,
21:53
Speaker 2: knowing that she was seen at the picnic tables, and
21:56
Speaker 2: the witnesses reported seeing her sitting on a wooden staircase
21:59
Speaker 2: that leads down to the trailhead. Was Hannah waiting on someone,
22:03
Speaker 2: did someone lure her into those woods, or is it
22:06
Speaker 2: possible that she walked down the path with someone and
22:09
Speaker 2: they left and someone else was watching her. Police have
22:13
Speaker 2: stated publicly they believed that because Hannah was seen sitting
22:16
Speaker 2: on the wooden steps, that she encountered someone, maybe more
22:20
Speaker 2: than one person, and that she went willingly with that
22:23
Speaker 2: person or person's to the stream bed. After the rains,
22:27
Speaker 2: the waters started flowing fast, and Hannah's body was left
22:31
Speaker 2: in that fast moving water for an hour or more
22:34
Speaker 2: during the storm, so we know that a lot of
22:37
Speaker 2: the physical.
22:37
Speaker 3: Evidence was lost.
22:39
Speaker 2: Police have not released whether or not Hannah had clothes,
22:42
Speaker 2: on whether or not they looked for them or found
22:45
Speaker 2: evidence of sexual assault. Police have said they are withholding
22:49
Speaker 2: evidence because they want to protect the integrity of the investigation,
22:53
Speaker 2: but they have shared a lead, one that they've been
22:55
Speaker 2: trying to figure out for years. Police are looking for
22:59
Speaker 2: a distinctive vehicle that was seen in the apartment complex.
23:03
Speaker 2: It's been described as the nineteen nineties to two thousand
23:06
Speaker 2: silver four door Chevier Dodge with significant front end damage
23:11
Speaker 2: and a lighter colored driver's side door. They are hoping
23:15
Speaker 2: that someone saw that car, and Lieutenant Franklin has said
23:19
Speaker 2: he strongly believes Hannah was in the presence of more
23:22
Speaker 2: than one person at the time of her death, which
23:24
Speaker 2: makes me wonder if Hannah's father, Jeff, could be right
23:27
Speaker 2: about her facial wounds being inflicted by a female, if
23:30
Speaker 2: there was a female involved somehow, and if this could
23:33
Speaker 2: have been some kind of love triangle gone wrong. In
23:37
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen, Lieutenant Franklin said at a press conference, quote,
23:41
Speaker 2: we've had several persons of interest that we've taught to
23:44
Speaker 2: that remain persons of interest.
23:46
Speaker 3: What we're looking.
23:46
Speaker 2: For is someone on the fringe, someone with knowledge that
23:50
Speaker 2: has a piece of information that'll open the door to
23:52
Speaker 2: these people that we've already looked at but aren't ready
23:55
Speaker 2: to discount yet.
23:56
Speaker 3: End quote.
23:57
Speaker 2: He added, quote, We're confident we know who is responsible
24:01
Speaker 2: for her death. We've had a suspect since the beginning.
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Speaker 2: Our issue is that we have a lack of evidence
24:07
Speaker 2: to tie that person to the crime. It's not to
24:09
Speaker 2: say we have zero evidence, but we just didn't have
24:12
Speaker 2: enough end quote. Police have not released the name of
24:16
Speaker 2: this potential person of interest. Lieutenant Franklin has dropped a
24:20
Speaker 2: few clues, saying that the suspect is.
24:22
Speaker 3: Mail and that he knew Hannah.
24:24
Speaker 2: He said police have talked to this person multiple times
24:27
Speaker 2: and that this person has denied any involvement in Hannah's murder.
24:35
Speaker 2: Hannah's mother, Mona, died in August of twenty twenty two,
24:39
Speaker 2: just before the tenth anniversary of Hannah's murder. She died
24:44
Speaker 2: without ever knowing who killed her daughter, and Lieutenant Franklin
24:48
Speaker 2: said that even though he got a promotion and wasn't
24:51
Speaker 2: officially on Hannah's case anymore, he asked to stay and
24:55
Speaker 2: keep investigating. He said that he had a teenage daughter
24:58
Speaker 2: of his own and felt a personal connection to this
25:00
Speaker 2: case to this day. Lieutenant Franklin said he keeps Hannah's
25:05
Speaker 2: Nintendo DS on his desk as a reminder to never
25:09
Speaker 2: give up on searching for answers and justice in Hannah's case.
25:14
Speaker 2: Lieutenant Franklin said he hopes that someone who knows something
25:17
Speaker 2: will come forward, may be someone who knew the suspect
25:21
Speaker 2: or Hannah's friend group, or who may have seen the
25:24
Speaker 2: car and can help police establish some sort of connection.
25:29
Speaker 3: Again.
25:30
Speaker 2: The car was spotted around the Lake Lanier Club apartment
25:33
Speaker 2: complex on Thursday, August twenty third, around the time when
25:36
Speaker 2: Hannah true Love went missing. Police believed the occupants of
25:41
Speaker 2: that car may have important information other than the car.
25:45
Speaker 2: Lieutenant Franklin has said he hopes that advances in DNA
25:48
Speaker 2: technology could one day provide the break that police need
25:52
Speaker 2: to crack this case. This case actually reminds me of
25:56
Speaker 2: another recent case we covered the Caroline Glacken case in Scotland.
26:00
Speaker 2: That case was solved decades later and they had zero
26:03
Speaker 2: physical evidence. In that case, Caroline was part of a
26:07
Speaker 2: love triangle. Her killers attacked her in the woods near
26:10
Speaker 2: a body of water. Police were able to catch the
26:13
Speaker 2: killers by going back to the original scene of the
26:16
Speaker 2: crime in interviewing every single person in the apartment complex
26:20
Speaker 2: where their suspect had been spotted, and all of Caroline's
26:23
Speaker 2: neighbors and friends as well. There could be a similar
26:27
Speaker 2: situation here. There may have been people who were afraid
26:31
Speaker 2: to speak out at the time, who were friends with
26:33
Speaker 2: Hannah's friend group, who may have children of their own
26:36
Speaker 2: now and may feel differently about coming forward. Before she died,
26:45
Speaker 2: Mona wrote a public plea. She wrote quote, I would
26:49
Speaker 2: like to send a message to anyone who may have
26:51
Speaker 2: information about Hannah's death to please come forward and help
26:54
Speaker 2: me in this nightmare. I am haunted by Hannah's death,
26:58
Speaker 2: as any mother can understand. Please help my family by
27:02
Speaker 2: coming forward with your information, even if that information is
27:06
Speaker 2: about your son or daughter. I feel sure you know
27:09
Speaker 2: they can't come to grips with Hannah's death until they
27:12
Speaker 2: are truthful about what happened to Hannah. We can't go
27:16
Speaker 2: back and save Hannah, but we can honor her memory
27:18
Speaker 2: and bring closure to her tragic death. I pray to
27:22
Speaker 2: Almighty God you are willing to do for Hannah, even
27:25
Speaker 2: though you may not have known her. I know in
27:28
Speaker 2: my heart Hannah would have done the same for you.
27:32
Speaker 2: End quote. I'm Catherine Townsend. This is Helen Gone Murder Line.
27:41
Speaker 2: Helen Gone Murder Line is a production of School You
27:44
Speaker 2: and iHeart Podcast. It's written and narrated by me Catherine
27:47
Speaker 2: Townsend and produced by Gabby Watts. Special thanks to Amy
27:51
Speaker 2: Tubbs for her research assistance and James Wheaton for legal review.
27:55
Speaker 2: Noah camer mixed and scored this episode. Our theme song
27:58
Speaker 2: is by Ben Salek. Executive producers are Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr,
28:03
Speaker 2: and l. C.
28:03
Speaker 3: Crowley.
28:04
Speaker 2: Listen to Helen Gone adfree by subscribing to the iHeart
28:07
Speaker 2: True Crime Plush channel.
28:09
Speaker 3: On Apple Podcasts.
28:10
Speaker 2: If you were interested in seeing documents and materials from
28:13
Speaker 2: the case, you can follow the show on Instagram.
28:16
Speaker 3: At Helen Gonepod.
28:18
Speaker 2: If you have a case she'd like me and my
28:20
Speaker 2: team to look into, you can reach out to us
28:22
Speaker 2: at our Helen Gone murder line at six seven eight
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Speaker 2: seven four four six' one four. Five that's six seven
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Speaker 1: School of humans