Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SPRINGFIELD THREE? Two Teen Girls and Mom Disappear From Family Home

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WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SPRINGFIELD THREE? Two Teen Girls and Mom Disappear From Family Home · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
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Speaker 2: The so called Springfield Three that sounds like a gang
0:19
Speaker 2: of some sort. No, the Springfield Three anything but wrongdoers.
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Speaker 2: They are three women, including two teams, that vanish seemingly
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Speaker 2: without a trace. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.
0:37
Speaker 2: Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation
0:39
Speaker 2: and Serious xem one eleven. The spring Field Three three
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Speaker 2: words that still haunt law enforcement. Take a listen now
0:51
Speaker 2: to our friends at NBC.
0:52
Speaker 3: Friends and family of nineteen year old Suzanne Streeter and
0:55
Speaker 3: eighteen year old Stacy McCall say, it's not like them
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Speaker 3: to just leave and not tell any one where they're going.
1:01
Speaker 2: She calls and lets me.
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Speaker 4: Know where she's going to be.
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Speaker 3: She's never missed work.
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Speaker 4: She's a very.
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Speaker 3: Conscient She's you.
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Speaker 5: We're questioning everybody at this time, friends, relatives, anyone that
1:13
Speaker 5: has the information, anyone that may have seen them last, neighbors,
1:17
Speaker 5: We've done neighborhood canvas.
1:19
Speaker 6: How we're just checking every league we can at this.
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Speaker 2: Time, checking every league canvassing neighborhoods. How could three women
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Speaker 2: just disappear? Two of them teens. Suzanne Streeter just nineteen,
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Speaker 2: Stacey McCall just eighteen and Suzanne's mother, Cheryl Lovitt, a
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Speaker 2: mother and two teen girls just vanish, no sign of
1:45
Speaker 2: them anywhere, you know, very often to Just got Morgan
1:49
Speaker 2: joining me, Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood
1:53
Speaker 2: Beneath My Feet on Amazon at Starverard Brandy Pit series
1:57
Speaker 2: on iHeart Body Bags that Joe Scott Morgan. We every
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Speaker 2: day here I do missing person, but rarely do you
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Speaker 2: see a mom and two teens just vanish.
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Speaker 7: How can that be that you have three people that
2:14
Speaker 7: are just living their lives and suddenly they're gone. They're
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Speaker 7: vaporized into the air, and no one has seen or
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Speaker 7: heard from them since that moment in time, you know,
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Speaker 7: even though they may have been seen doing activities earlier
2:27
Speaker 7: in the day that gave you a hint that everything
2:29
Speaker 7: was normal in their life. The next morning they're completely
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Speaker 7: gone and no one ever hears from them again. It's highly,
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Speaker 7: highly unusual.
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Speaker 2: Let me go to niculdboard Hots Globe, high profile defense
2:40
Speaker 2: lawyer joining us out of Houston. Former prosecutor. She's now
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Speaker 2: in Houston criminal defense dot Com. Nicole, you and I
2:47
Speaker 2: both tried at least I prosecuted. You've done defense and
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Speaker 2: prosecution work missing people, kidnapped people, murders sometimes that don't
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Speaker 2: have a body to describe for the but three at once,
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Speaker 2: including two teen girls and one of their mother, Suzanne's mother,
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Speaker 2: that's very unusual.
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Speaker 4: It's very very unusual. It almost makes you wonder whether
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Speaker 4: or not they knew the person that was interfacing with
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Speaker 4: them right before their disappearance or ultimate death, because trying
3:19
Speaker 4: to overpower three people is an unusual thing to be
3:24
Speaker 4: able to do, even if you're armed, you know, with
3:27
Speaker 4: no commotion being overheard by neighbors and no clue being
3:31
Speaker 4: left behind. So it's a very unusual case. These are
3:35
Speaker 4: very difficult for the prosecution.
3:37
Speaker 6: Now.
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Speaker 2: A lot of comparisons have been made to the two
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Speaker 2: little girls, Abby and Liberty, Abigail and Liberty that went
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Speaker 2: missing in Delphi. Their bodies later found murdered. But those
3:51
Speaker 2: were two young girls. This is very young as in twins.
3:58
Speaker 2: But these are two older teens eighteen and nineteen, plus
4:03
Speaker 2: their grown mother. That's a very big difference. Joining me
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Speaker 2: is Rick bookout Form a Springfield police officer. There's a
4:12
Speaker 2: big difference in abducting little children like twelve thirteen as
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Speaker 2: opposed to an eighteen year old, a nineteen year old,
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Speaker 2: and one of their moms in her forties.
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Speaker 8: That's true. The only thing that I can think of
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Speaker 8: is if you're a parent, you know, you might understand
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Speaker 8: a little better. But you know, I've heard there must
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Speaker 8: have been more than one person. One person could have
4:34
Speaker 8: gotten them out of the house. I don't know. I
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Speaker 8: tend to think that if you're a parent and someone
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Speaker 8: has a gun to your child's head, you're probably gonna
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Speaker 8: You're going to be quiet, You're going to do whatever
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Speaker 8: they tell you to do.
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Speaker 2: I could see that. We also have cases of an
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Speaker 2: entire family disappearing or an entire family being killed. But
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Speaker 2: like you just heard a former cop Rick bookout state,
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Speaker 2: parents will do a lot if somebody's got a gun
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Speaker 2: to their child's head. So how the two teens and
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Speaker 2: one of their mothers just vanish? The location Springfield, Missouri.
5:12
Speaker 2: Take a listen to Maddie Schuisler NBC.
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Speaker 3: The last time anyone saw Susan Streeter or Stacy McCall
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Speaker 3: was over the weekend at this house in Battlefield. The
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Speaker 3: girls had gathered here with some friends after graduating from
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Speaker 3: Kickapoo High School on Saturday. They left here early Sunday morning.
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Speaker 9: They said they're going to the other girl's house and
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Speaker 9: they were going to be spending the night there. And
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Speaker 9: they called me in the morning so we could out
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Speaker 9: a white water. And I caught und to call me
5:39
Speaker 9: in the morning, so I called them, and I called him.
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Speaker 9: I called him and called Mynnion, sir.
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Speaker 2: So I went over there, and staying there, you were
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Speaker 2: hearing Maddie Schuysler at NBC, and you were also hearing
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Speaker 2: friends of the missing girls. Joining me right now a
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Speaker 2: special guest writer and host of The Spring Full Three,
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Speaker 2: A small Town Disappearance, an Roderick Jones, and thank you
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Speaker 2: for being with us. Tell me about the day that
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Speaker 2: these three women just vanish.
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Speaker 10: Well, two of the girls were graduating, which was Stacy
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Speaker 10: and Susie. So they had graduated from Kickapoo High School
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Speaker 10: that day and then they were going out to do
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Speaker 10: what children normally do, our teens normally do after graduation,
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Speaker 10: which was to go to some parties. And they'd spent
6:31
Speaker 10: the evening doing that, a seemingly normal celebratory day. And
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Speaker 10: after the parties, they had intended to stay at one
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Speaker 10: front's house and ended up going over to Susie's house
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Speaker 10: where she lived with her mother, and that was presumably
6:46
Speaker 10: about two point fifteen in the am, and by the morning,
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Speaker 10: no one was found out at the house, even though
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Speaker 10: all three cars were there and their purses were there
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Speaker 10: along with their keys.
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Speaker 2: Okay, I want to let that soak in. And Anne
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Speaker 2: is joining us, really an expert on this along with Rick.
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Speaker 2: Book out and tell me that one more time. They
7:12
Speaker 2: graduated that day from Kickapoo High. They planned to go
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Speaker 2: to different senior parties, and we're all going to stay
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Speaker 2: at one girl's house overnight. Correct they were.
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Speaker 10: They had actually changed plans a couple of times, and
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Speaker 10: Stacy had called her mother to let her know that
7:29
Speaker 10: they were changing their plans. So we're going to stay
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Speaker 10: at some friend's house. And then ultimately early in the
7:36
Speaker 10: morning hours, they changed their mind and went over to
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Speaker 10: Susie's house on Delmar Street, where she lives with her mother.
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Speaker 2: I wonder why the change of plans, But that said,
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Speaker 2: I mean I could see them getting carjacks, say, on
7:51
Speaker 2: the way from one home to the next. But then
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Speaker 2: you also have the mother. Cheryl Lovett, Susanne's mom vanished
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Speaker 2: as well. Guys, take a listen to our friends at
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Speaker 2: NBC listen.
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Speaker 3: Suzanne Streeter's mom, Cheryl love It, She's also missing. Last
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Speaker 3: seen at her daughter's graduation ceremony at Hammond Student Center
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Speaker 3: on Saturday. She lived in this house on East Delmar
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Speaker 3: in Springfield. That's where police found the three missing women's cars.
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Speaker 3: Authority say there was no sign of a struggle. In fact,
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Speaker 3: the front door was unlocked, the TV was on, their
8:24
Speaker 3: clothes were still there, their purses and personal items untouched.
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Speaker 2: Now as I recall, the porch light had been broken.
8:36
Speaker 2: Everything else seemed to be in place, but the porch
8:41
Speaker 2: light was broken. No sign of a struggle inside the home.
8:47
Speaker 2: I want to go back to former Springfield, Missouri police officer,
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Speaker 2: the first officer on the scene, Rick book Out, is
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Speaker 2: with us. Tell me about when you got the call
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Speaker 2: to go to the scene.
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Speaker 8: It was I was working third shift and that started
9:09
Speaker 8: at about nine point thirty pm. Attended briefing, got my equipment,
9:16
Speaker 8: got my car, and headed out. And as I recalled,
9:19
Speaker 8: I was probably the first call for service that I
9:22
Speaker 8: had pretty shortly after going into service. When I got
9:28
Speaker 8: to the house, there were lots of people there, people
9:33
Speaker 8: in the yard, people in the house, people going in
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Speaker 8: and out. Of the house, and there were some there
9:41
Speaker 8: were some adults, some parents there, and had told me that,
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Speaker 8: you know, they were concerned because the I think the
9:51
Speaker 8: girls were supposed to stay at someone else's house and
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Speaker 8: then they were all going to get up early the
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Speaker 8: next morning and go to a water park in the
9:59
Speaker 8: Branson area the next morning. But there were too many
10:01
Speaker 8: people in the house, so they weren't they weren't going
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Speaker 8: to be able to stay there as they had planned.
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Speaker 8: So Susie had, you know, had known with Stacy, they
10:16
Speaker 8: had grown up. I think they had been friends since
10:18
Speaker 8: since grade school. And she said, well, just come home
10:20
Speaker 8: with me. We'll stay at my house and then we'll
10:22
Speaker 8: get up and go meet everybody in the morning. And
10:25
Speaker 8: someone had mentioned to me about the It was actually
10:28
Speaker 8: the globe of the porch light, as I recalled the
10:31
Speaker 8: porch the light worked. It was just the globe had
10:36
Speaker 8: fallen and they said it was broken on the steps
10:40
Speaker 8: of the front porch. And I said, well, where's the
10:43
Speaker 8: glass and they said, oh, well, we cleaned it up
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Speaker 8: through it in the trash. So just from there I
10:51
Speaker 8: tried to you know, interview the teens that were there
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Speaker 8: and the parents to get an idea of what was
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Speaker 8: going on.
11:00
Speaker 2: Who called in their disappearance.
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Speaker 6: As I recall, Stacy's mother had called, so Stacy's mom,
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Speaker 6: Janice McCall, that's where they were supposed to stay that night,
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Speaker 6: and instead they went over to Suzanne's.
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Speaker 8: I think that the house where they were planning to
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Speaker 8: stay was actually out in the county somewhere, and so
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Speaker 8: they had decided to just go back there. And there
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Speaker 8: had been some time elaps since because the other kids
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Speaker 8: had the next morning had gotten up and tried to
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Speaker 8: call them and they got no answer. So they went
11:36
Speaker 8: ahead and went to the water park, spent the day,
11:40
Speaker 8: came back. I went to check on them, and they
11:43
Speaker 8: still couldn't find them. So they went to the house
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Speaker 8: and no one was home. So, you know, sometime had
11:50
Speaker 8: gone by before they called missus McCall and said, hey,
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Speaker 8: you know, we don't know what's going on, and she's like, well,
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Speaker 8: we need to call the police.
12:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what. It was the home of Janelle Kirby,
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Speaker 2: another one of their friends. They were going to stay
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Speaker 2: there and then decided to go stay at Suzanne's house.
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Speaker 1: Time Stories with Nancy Grace.
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Speaker 2: And Roderick Jones joining me, writer and host of the
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Speaker 2: podcast is Springfield three a small town disappearance, And they
12:33
Speaker 2: were supposed to stay at Janelle Kirby's home. So was
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Speaker 2: there a big distance between Janelle and Suzanne's home?
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Speaker 6: You know?
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Speaker 10: I would say there's probably a fifteen minute drive between
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Speaker 10: where Janelle lived and where they ended up, which was
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Speaker 10: at seventeen seventeen Delmar, a little bit closer to the
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Speaker 10: downtown area of Springfield.
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Speaker 2: I'm just trying to get my head around the logistics.
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Speaker 2: I'm wondering, did someone see them headed over to Suzanne's home.
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Speaker 2: It's a fifteen minute drive. Wouldout have been time? But
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Speaker 2: it was late? Was it late at night when they
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Speaker 2: decided to spend the night at Suzanne's?
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Speaker 10: It was it was about two in the morning. And
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Speaker 10: so they had went over to Janelle's initially, and she
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Speaker 10: had a lot of people in town. Of course, the
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Speaker 10: girls had graduated that day, so there were family members there,
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Speaker 10: and because there wasn't enough space, they ended up driving
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Speaker 10: over to Susie and Cheryl's house. And something that we
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Speaker 10: talk about on the podcast is that the Janelle's mother
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Speaker 10: heard Susie say to Stacey, follow me to my house.
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Speaker 10: She said, okay, and that was the last that anyone
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Speaker 10: had heard of them. They both presumably drove their cars
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Speaker 10: over to Delmar Street and presumably went to bed. Their
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Speaker 10: clothes had been removed and folded that they had been
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Speaker 10: wearing that day. There were washcloths with makeup in the bin,
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Speaker 10: so presumably they had been to bed that night.
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Speaker 2: So they made it there. You know, those details are
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Speaker 2: so important in this case. To doctor Shery Schwartz joining
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Speaker 2: me forensic psychologists specializing in criminal behavior. You can find
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Speaker 2: her at panthermitigation dot com. She's the author of Criminal
14:15
Speaker 2: Behavior and where law and psychology intersect. Doctor Sherry, thank
14:19
Speaker 2: you for being with us, you know, commenting on the case,
14:23
Speaker 2: analyzing the case. It's all about logistics, timelines, forensic evidence.
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Speaker 2: But when Anne Roderick Jones just said the clothes they
14:34
Speaker 2: had worn to graduation and the graduation parties were neatly
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Speaker 2: folded up, the makeup wipes were found where they had
14:45
Speaker 2: taken off all their makeup from the night, it suddenly
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Speaker 2: struck home and it makes me think of my little
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Speaker 2: girl Lucy when she comes back from you know, one
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Speaker 2: of her little school get togethers, of her getting ready
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Speaker 2: for bed, and that indicates to me they made it
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Speaker 2: all the way to Suzanne's safely, and just like Anne says,
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Speaker 2: got ready for bed. But it really humanizes these two
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Speaker 2: teen girls, doesn't it.
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Speaker 11: It certainly does, and it makes it. It shows very
15:21
Speaker 11: clearly that they were alive right seemingly when they got home,
15:26
Speaker 11: that they were doing what most women young and old do,
15:29
Speaker 11: take your makeup off for the day, relax, get yourself ready,
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Speaker 11: and go to bed. And so that might make family
15:37
Speaker 11: members or anybody who went into the house not think
15:40
Speaker 11: there was any emergency.
15:42
Speaker 2: Question to either Rick, a book out former Springfield police
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Speaker 2: officer who's the first on the scene, and and Roderick Jones,
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Speaker 2: who has created an incredible podcast about the Springfield three,
15:54
Speaker 2: where was Suzanne's dad? Did he live in the home
16:01
Speaker 2: as well?
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Speaker 10: I know that he was not living in the house.
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Speaker 10: That Cheryl was a single mother. She was from the
16:07
Speaker 10: Seattle area and she had moved to Springfield just a
16:11
Speaker 10: few years prior, I believe, and decided to bring her
16:16
Speaker 10: daughter with her and they lived in that home, just
16:18
Speaker 10: the two of them, on del Mar. She was a
16:21
Speaker 10: hairstylist and she worked at a local salon.
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Speaker 2: So the dad was living in the home. I guess
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Speaker 2: as he was back in Seattle, and you know Nicole
16:30
Speaker 2: Debord hots Globe, high profile criminal defense attorney out of Houston.
16:34
Speaker 2: You know where I'm headed. The first thing you do
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Speaker 2: is look at all the males connected to the crime scene.
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Speaker 4: Absolutely and you know it'll be curious to hear what
16:42
Speaker 4: details they collected and ultimately, now with the benefit of time,
16:47
Speaker 4: how those details line up with what we can determine
16:50
Speaker 4: is forensically accurate. Things have changed quite a bit since
16:54
Speaker 4: the time of this original scene investigation.
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Speaker 2: So let's go over what we know to these two
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Speaker 2: teen girls and one of their moms disappear. Where do
17:05
Speaker 2: they end up. It's baffling to me. We're not getting
17:10
Speaker 2: any evidence out of the home. Take a listen to
17:13
Speaker 2: Francis Watson ky TV.
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Speaker 9: I saw her graduate Saturday night, and now.
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Speaker 12: She's gone inside the house. Nothing seemed to be out
17:23
Speaker 12: of place. No personal items were missing, their keys and
17:26
Speaker 12: purses accounted for, their cars parked in the driveway. The
17:29
Speaker 12: three women seem to have vanished without a trace.
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Speaker 7: It's there you here.
17:33
Speaker 6: It just looks like the tip may.
17:34
Speaker 7: Via the finger.
17:35
Speaker 12: The community joining the police department in the search. Following
17:38
Speaker 12: every leave.
17:39
Speaker 6: We're looking for anything.
17:40
Speaker 7: We're not just looking for these three. We are exploring all.
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Speaker 8: Avenues this time.
17:46
Speaker 9: I'm missus McCall and this is my daughter.
17:48
Speaker 2: You know, I'm just thinking this through. Back to book
17:51
Speaker 2: out former Springfield police officer, the first on the scene,
17:55
Speaker 2: the missing Springfield three.
17:57
Speaker 6: So tell me your.
17:59
Speaker 2: Recollection of the scene. So the mom's car and both
18:02
Speaker 2: the girl's cars were there.
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Speaker 8: Yeah, that's correct. It appeared that everything was normal when
18:09
Speaker 8: they arrived. Nothing out of the ordinary. They parked, their vehicles,
18:14
Speaker 8: had gone in the house. It looked like they turned
18:17
Speaker 8: on the TV, were getting ready for bed, as and
18:22
Speaker 8: had mentioned they at least Stacy had taken her shorts off.
18:27
Speaker 8: She had taken her jewelry off, put it in the
18:29
Speaker 8: pockets of her shorts. There might have been some medication
18:32
Speaker 8: in there as well. Folded these items, and it disappeared
18:39
Speaker 8: as if they were just getting ready to go to
18:40
Speaker 8: bed without any hint of anything wrong. And there were
18:49
Speaker 8: talking about the crime scene itself. There were so many
18:52
Speaker 8: people in the house, in the yard, in and out,
18:56
Speaker 8: back and forth. You know, any crime scene there might
18:59
Speaker 8: have been, you know, was pretty well.
19:02
Speaker 2: Damaged by that time, contaminated and destroyed. Two things just
19:07
Speaker 2: jump out at me speaking of destroying a crime scene.
19:11
Speaker 2: They you mentioned earlier written book out first cop on
19:15
Speaker 2: the scene, the glass from the broken globe on the
19:20
Speaker 2: porchlide had been cleared off the porch. What evidence could
19:27
Speaker 2: have been yielded from that globe, Well, it's.
19:30
Speaker 8: Hard to say, you know, if there were any pieces
19:33
Speaker 8: large enough I could have I think there might have
19:36
Speaker 8: been some fingerprim evidence that might have been obtained from that.
19:40
Speaker 8: We didn't have the luxury of DNA at the time.
19:45
Speaker 8: The media had reported things like the house had been cleaned,
19:51
Speaker 8: and I don't know that that was necessarily the case.
19:53
Speaker 8: I think they probably got that from the statement, you know,
19:57
Speaker 8: when I said where's the broken glass and they said, well,
19:59
Speaker 8: we it up, And you know, I guess, in all
20:03
Speaker 8: fairness to the kids, they had no idea, you know,
20:06
Speaker 8: they had no idea that that something like this had happened.
20:10
Speaker 2: Well, Book, what can you tell me about a message
20:13
Speaker 2: on the answering machine allegedly being deleted?
20:16
Speaker 8: Well, I was told while I was there that they said, hey,
20:19
Speaker 8: by the way, you know, don't know if this means anything,
20:22
Speaker 8: but there were some disconcerting messages on the answering machine,
20:27
Speaker 8: and as I recall, I mean it's been a long
20:29
Speaker 8: time ago, but as I recall, there was one that
20:32
Speaker 8: I listened to that it just sounded like a random
20:37
Speaker 8: obscene phone call, wasn't specific to anyone. And then someone
20:43
Speaker 8: had said, well, there were others, but they had been deleted.
20:46
Speaker 2: Normally I would say it was a rando, but in
20:49
Speaker 2: conjunction with them disappearing, I would take a second look
20:51
Speaker 2: at it. Now another thing, a friend, one of their friends,
20:57
Speaker 2: Kirby and her boyfriend visited the home after the two
21:01
Speaker 2: failed to show up as they were supposed to, you know,
21:05
Speaker 2: to go to the water park. Upon arriving, Kirby found
21:09
Speaker 2: the front door unlocked. Entered, there were no sign of
21:13
Speaker 2: the Springfield three. Each woman's cars parked outside. The glass
21:18
Speaker 2: lampshade on the porch light shattered the light bulb intact,
21:23
Speaker 2: that's what happened. Kirby and her boyfriend innocently cleaned up
21:27
Speaker 2: the glass, not really realizing anything was gone, but also
21:33
Speaker 2: the dog, Streeter's dog, a Yorkshire Terrier named Cinnamon, was
21:39
Speaker 2: highly agitated, and while they were there, Kirby answered the
21:45
Speaker 2: phone and called it a strange and disturbing call from
21:49
Speaker 2: an unidentified male who made six innuendows. Now that's happening
21:56
Speaker 2: the morning that they're noticed to be gone. I thought
22:00
Speaker 2: that highly coincidental.
22:02
Speaker 7: Joe Scott Morgan, Well, there are many coincidences along along
22:08
Speaker 7: with this. You know, I'm sitting here thinking, you know,
22:11
Speaker 7: you've got three women who and two of which had
22:16
Speaker 7: been at parties earlier in the evening, you know, who
22:19
Speaker 7: would have had an awareness that they were at the parties,
22:23
Speaker 7: leaving the parties, and then at the last minute, there's
22:26
Speaker 7: like this decision apparently to sleep at the house from
22:31
Speaker 7: which they disappeared. This is not initially in the plan.
22:34
Speaker 7: So when you have this kind of and it looks
22:37
Speaker 7: to me like a there's not like a sense of
22:41
Speaker 7: forced energy with this, you know, like you know, we're
22:44
Speaker 7: gonna grab you and pull you out of the house,
22:46
Speaker 7: kicking and screaming. You've got people that have changed out
22:50
Speaker 7: of their daily wear. My question is are their shoes
22:54
Speaker 7: still in the house. Specifically to the individual that doesn't
22:57
Speaker 7: live in the house, did they walk out of the
22:59
Speaker 7: door barefooted? Because you have to assume that the only
23:02
Speaker 7: pair of shoes that they would have had would have
23:04
Speaker 7: been the ones that they walked in there with and
23:07
Speaker 7: the broken glass is interesting to me because I would
23:11
Speaker 7: really want to know. And alsin bookman had mentioned that
23:15
Speaker 7: the light was still functioning. I think that's correct. Was
23:19
Speaker 7: this an attempt to knock out the light so that
23:21
Speaker 7: no one could see their face? Maybe perhaps a perpetrator
23:25
Speaker 7: when they came to the door. I think that that's
23:27
Speaker 7: kind of an interesting point. And how are you going
23:30
Speaker 7: to wrangle three three not just one, but three people
23:34
Speaker 7: and get them out of the house. And there's other
23:37
Speaker 7: It looks like there's other residences in the immediate vicinity
23:41
Speaker 7: of this location, so I don't know. To me, it
23:45
Speaker 7: seems as though somebody would have had to have very specific,
23:48
Speaker 7: intimate knowledge of their comings and going.
23:50
Speaker 2: We may know about a secondary crime scene. Take a
23:53
Speaker 2: listen to our Friensy kol R.
23:57
Speaker 5: A clerk at the South Side convenience store, says he
24:00
Speaker 5: saw Cheryl of it early on the morning the three
24:02
Speaker 5: women disappeared looking for her daughter and two friends. Police
24:06
Speaker 5: have been unable to confirm that report, though did let
24:09
Speaker 5: it make a call a short time later from this
24:11
Speaker 5: nearby store. Police can't confirm that either, but are trying
24:14
Speaker 5: to obtain records from payphones in the area. Were the
24:18
Speaker 5: three women in this restaurant early on that morning? A
24:21
Speaker 5: waitress says she served them, but no one else has
24:23
Speaker 5: come forward to substantiate that.
24:25
Speaker 2: Wow, So a clerk at a commedia stor says he
24:28
Speaker 2: saw Cheryl of it that morning looking for her daughter
24:33
Speaker 2: and friends. We also have a waitress claiming that she
24:37
Speaker 2: served them. What do we know about that? And Roderick Jones, Well.
24:41
Speaker 10: I think during this entire time, there were so many
24:44
Speaker 10: theories that were coming up. The police were chasing so
24:48
Speaker 10: many leads. So you know, you did have that theory
24:51
Speaker 10: of you know, a gas station clerk at one point,
24:54
Speaker 10: and then the waitress at Georgia's Steakhouse, which was a
24:57
Speaker 10: place that I went growing up. It was a twenty
24:59
Speaker 10: four hour cap beef shop, kind of you know, divy
25:03
Speaker 10: diner place, and it was really close to the house
25:05
Speaker 10: on Delmar, so you know, it certainly could have been plausible.
25:09
Speaker 10: That was one that was looked into. There were some
25:12
Speaker 10: theories of a green van. There were certainly so many
25:15
Speaker 10: theories and certainly so many tips that were called in
25:18
Speaker 10: at this time that I believe it was hard to
25:20
Speaker 10: keep them straight. And it was hard to probably suss
25:23
Speaker 10: all of them out true.
25:25
Speaker 2: But about those two tips, let's talk about how we
25:28
Speaker 2: could prove it if there was not a surveillance video
25:31
Speaker 2: camera in the diner or at the convenience store. What
25:35
Speaker 2: about receipts Joe Scott Morgan, What about that? Would that
25:39
Speaker 2: be a way to prove it? Or if a credit
25:41
Speaker 2: card was used or a receipt where three people were donning,
25:45
Speaker 2: so you've got three breakfast orders, wouldn't that go a
25:49
Speaker 2: long way to proving whether it was true or not?
25:52
Speaker 7: A lot of that would be dependent upon how sophisticated
25:55
Speaker 7: the register was at that particular time. Think back to
25:58
Speaker 7: that period of time. If it's a can carry kind
26:00
Speaker 7: of business, they're not using credit cards or anything else.
26:03
Speaker 7: Maybe they're just right out a receipt. I don't know
26:06
Speaker 7: that anything would necessarily have been available digitally certainly, or
26:10
Speaker 7: a record of that. That would be a place to start, though,
26:14
Speaker 7: because it gives you kind of foundationally something numerically you
26:17
Speaker 7: know that you can go on that you can kind
26:19
Speaker 7: of pinpoint that place in time. You know, this is
26:22
Speaker 7: a world that's completely free, completely free of cell phones
26:26
Speaker 7: and all of that kind of digital information that we
26:29
Speaker 7: deal with today.
26:29
Speaker 2: You know, I have never been to let's just say,
26:33
Speaker 2: waffle house where the wait just didn't write down on
26:38
Speaker 2: a pad what was being ordered and then that would
26:43
Speaker 2: be attached to a receipt. So I'm not quite sure
26:49
Speaker 2: how that can't be in existence. I mean, you know,
26:54
Speaker 2: to you to cold the Ward Hodge Globe, handwrint receipts
26:57
Speaker 2: are just as good as digital receipts. They might not
26:59
Speaker 2: have the time on them, but I find it hard
27:02
Speaker 2: to believe that that story, at least that the mom
27:06
Speaker 2: was having breakfast with the girls early early in the morning,
27:09
Speaker 2: and there's not a receipt of that.
27:11
Speaker 4: I would agree. I think that's definitely an excellent place
27:14
Speaker 4: to start. The problem is the passage of time and
27:18
Speaker 4: what people thought was relevant then when they weren't quite
27:21
Speaker 4: sure what they were looking at, versus what they thought
27:24
Speaker 4: is or think now could be useful are two very
27:27
Speaker 4: different things, and with the passage of so much time,
27:30
Speaker 4: you just don't know what is available.
27:32
Speaker 5: The only way to.
27:33
Speaker 4: Find out is to ask.
27:34
Speaker 2: There were leads take a listen to our friensy kolr Ten.
27:39
Speaker 5: Police have made much of identifying this composite sketch a
27:43
Speaker 5: woman saw the transient looking man in the neighborhood near
27:45
Speaker 5: the leve at home around the time the women disappeared,
27:49
Speaker 5: but no one else has confirmed those sightings and no
27:51
Speaker 5: identification has been made. Police are also trying to track
27:55
Speaker 5: down a brown, older model Dodge van like this one.
27:59
Speaker 5: It was apartedly seen in the area early on the
28:01
Speaker 5: morning the women disappeared, but again by only one person
28:05
Speaker 5: and the report is so far unsubstantiated.
28:08
Speaker 2: Leads that were generated at the time but seemingly have
28:11
Speaker 2: all gone cold. These women never seen again, the case
28:17
Speaker 2: seemingly stymied. Take a listen to Francis Watson KYTV.
28:22
Speaker 5: For nearly two weeks, police and citizens in Springfield, Missouri
28:26
Speaker 5: have been haunted by a mystery.
28:27
Speaker 12: That mystery only deepening as time went by. Tips about
28:31
Speaker 12: a suspicious looking man in the area around the time
28:33
Speaker 12: of the disappearance put authorities on high alert.
28:36
Speaker 5: All the agencies in the area are working very hard
28:38
Speaker 5: to try and locate these people in these vans.
28:40
Speaker 12: All leads investigation, no matter how incredible, hunted down lead.
28:46
Speaker 6: Number fifteen, four hundred and sixteen. There's a buzzards.
28:50
Speaker 8: Flying over some siloe or something and they would send people.
28:54
Speaker 2: Great book out joining me. First cop on the scene,
28:57
Speaker 2: Rick tell me about how crazy it was at the
29:02
Speaker 2: time these three women go missing. The search for.
29:04
Speaker 8: Them, well, it was certainly full throttle. Every resource available
29:12
Speaker 8: and even the ones that weren't were put into this.
29:16
Speaker 8: And as.
29:19
Speaker 6: Chief Web mentioned.
29:20
Speaker 8: In that tape, every single call that came in was
29:26
Speaker 8: documented and the officers were sent to investigate, and it
29:31
Speaker 8: didn't matter where it was, whether it was in our
29:33
Speaker 8: jurisdiction or not.
29:48
Speaker 1: Prime Stories with Nancy Grace.
29:51
Speaker 2: I'm thinking about the timeline Joe Scott Morgan. So the
29:56
Speaker 2: girls get to the home, everybody jump in if I've
29:58
Speaker 2: got it wrong, around two and then they're reported missing
30:03
Speaker 2: the following morning, I guess around nine ish when they
30:07
Speaker 2: didn't show up to go to the water park. So
30:10
Speaker 2: you've got a seven hour window. And I also can't
30:14
Speaker 2: help but wonder about neighbors. How easy it would have
30:20
Speaker 2: been to get the girls and the mom over to
30:22
Speaker 2: a neighbor's house, as opposed to struggling to get all
30:26
Speaker 2: three of them into a vehicle, because obviously they were
30:30
Speaker 2: taking in a vehicle unless they went to a neighbor's house.
30:33
Speaker 7: How do you marshal them to get them out of
30:35
Speaker 7: the door, you know, is threat of force, I think
30:38
Speaker 7: is really the only way that that could potentially be accomplished.
30:41
Speaker 7: If you're going to throw a firearm up in these
30:43
Speaker 7: three women's face. You know, keep in mind two o'clock
30:46
Speaker 7: in the morning, you're in a daze. I don't know
30:49
Speaker 7: about you, guys, but I am. You know, you come
30:52
Speaker 7: walking into this environment, you're going to have compliant people.
30:56
Speaker 7: The fact that I think that maybe we didn't hear
30:59
Speaker 7: screaming or anything like that goes to this idea. You know,
31:03
Speaker 7: you either do what I say or I'm going to
31:05
Speaker 7: kill you right here to get them out of the door.
31:07
Speaker 7: And you're right, there has to be a motor vehicle
31:10
Speaker 7: involved in this, And how do you get them into
31:13
Speaker 7: that car? And relative to the neighbors, did they see
31:17
Speaker 7: anything that was out of the ordinary relative to a
31:21
Speaker 7: car that would have pulled up in there? And when
31:24
Speaker 7: I've seen the images from the scene, Nancy, regarding the
31:29
Speaker 7: two cars that were there, it's almost like a looped driveway.
31:33
Speaker 7: You think about, well, are you going to walk them
31:35
Speaker 7: across the front lawn into a waiting vehicle? Is there
31:38
Speaker 7: a back way to get them out of the house.
31:40
Speaker 7: Is there any evidence that that could have occurred? Or
31:42
Speaker 7: did you pull up right to the door and you know,
31:45
Speaker 7: you get them into the vehicle and then spirit them
31:48
Speaker 7: off into the night, and you know, by that time,
31:51
Speaker 7: seven hours down range, you could be anywhere heading out
31:54
Speaker 7: of Springfield in any number of different directions.
31:57
Speaker 2: Then evidence or a tip comes forth about a parking structure.
32:04
Speaker 2: Take a listener for ensit Kate why three.
32:06
Speaker 12: The parking structure at Cox Health's South campus was examined
32:10
Speaker 12: with special equipment after rumors circulated that the women were
32:13
Speaker 12: buried there, though nothing was found.
32:15
Speaker 8: An anonymous male caller told KY three that inside this
32:19
Speaker 8: newspaper stand.
32:20
Speaker 12: Was a note with possible clues on the women's whereabouts.
32:23
Speaker 8: It was found in an envelope made to cut the
32:25
Speaker 8: words out, just like in the movies.
32:27
Speaker 12: Over the years, tips continue to trickle in, not only
32:30
Speaker 12: to police, but to our station. These handwritten letters mail
32:33
Speaker 12: to KY three with vague details and theories about what
32:37
Speaker 12: happened here on Delmar Street.
32:38
Speaker 2: Sending tips or information to TV station is thought I'd
32:44
Speaker 2: heard of everyone's familiar with BTK buying torture kill serial
32:50
Speaker 2: killer Dennis Rader, who would actually engage in conversations and
32:56
Speaker 2: communications with local media. Do you recall Rick book out
33:02
Speaker 2: the search of the Cox Health Medical Center based on
33:05
Speaker 2: a tip the three women were buried there.
33:08
Speaker 8: Yes, I remember that. And if I could back up
33:11
Speaker 8: just a minute to the neighbors. Another officer and myself
33:15
Speaker 8: at the time that evening, we canvassed the neighborhood, all
33:21
Speaker 8: the neighbors on the street behind, next door, across the street,
33:27
Speaker 8: and no one saw or heard anything. And logistically talking
33:33
Speaker 8: about the vehicle parked in front of the house or
33:36
Speaker 8: in the loop, this house was only about a half
33:39
Speaker 8: a block away from a major business roadway, and so
33:46
Speaker 8: the east side of the house was a privacy fence.
33:49
Speaker 8: On the other side of the privacy fence was a
33:52
Speaker 8: parking lot to a business. That would be my guess
33:55
Speaker 8: where if there was a vehicle involved, it would have
33:58
Speaker 8: been parked there.
33:59
Speaker 2: Yep, right, And we've seen that before where a part
34:03
Speaker 2: well entered it through a fence to get into a yard.
34:06
Speaker 2: But coming from a major thoroughfare or like you're saying,
34:09
Speaker 2: a business, what are your other thoughts on them being
34:14
Speaker 2: spirited away?
34:15
Speaker 6: How did it happen?
34:16
Speaker 2: Rick Well?
34:16
Speaker 8: You know, I wish I knew. It's always been my
34:20
Speaker 8: opinion that this broken globe. I think it was broken
34:24
Speaker 8: on the way out rather than on the way in.
34:27
Speaker 8: But that's just my opinion.
34:29
Speaker 2: Broken on the way out.
34:30
Speaker 8: Why do you say that, Well, if it were broken
34:32
Speaker 8: on the way in, then, as the gentleman stated, they
34:35
Speaker 8: may not have had shoes on. I don't think they're
34:37
Speaker 8: going to walk three barefooted people through broken glass. And
34:43
Speaker 8: if it was, if it were broken on the way out,
34:46
Speaker 8: you know, you have to say, well, how would that
34:48
Speaker 8: have been broken on the way out? Could have been
34:50
Speaker 8: broken if somebody was carrying something or struggling. Yeah, yeah,
34:54
Speaker 8: And the fact that the bulb itself wasn't wasn't broken
34:58
Speaker 8: just the globe, because you're right, that is a very
35:01
Speaker 8: common thing. People don't want to be seen. They'll disable
35:05
Speaker 8: the bulb, and it wasn't. So I'm here. I think
35:08
Speaker 8: it was just knocked. I think it was a knocked loose.
35:11
Speaker 8: I'm not sure anybody did it intentionally, but again just
35:15
Speaker 8: my opinion.
35:15
Speaker 2: Now, cops say they are making progress. Are they take
35:18
Speaker 2: a listener? Forensic ko l R Ten Police say.
35:21
Speaker 5: They have made significant progress since the three women turned
35:24
Speaker 5: up missing. They've sifted through items inside the East Delmar home.
35:28
Speaker 5: Analysts continue looking at everything from fingerprints to financial records
35:33
Speaker 5: in the hunt for clues. They put together background reports
35:36
Speaker 5: on Stacy McCall and Susie Streeter. Two detectives flew to
35:40
Speaker 5: the Seattle area hoping to complete a profile of Cheryl
35:43
Speaker 5: Levitt's life, but many of the most dramatical leads mentioned
35:47
Speaker 5: publicly by police so far have been based on thin
35:50
Speaker 5: or unsubstantiated information.
35:52
Speaker 2: To you and Roderick Jones, star of the Springfield three,
35:57
Speaker 2: a small Town Disappearance podcast, looking tell me about Robert
36:01
Speaker 2: Craig Cox.
36:02
Speaker 10: So, Robert Craig Cox was from Springfield, Missouri. He was
36:08
Speaker 10: an army ranger and he was later accused of killing
36:12
Speaker 10: Sharon Zellers, who was found in Orange County, Florida, when
36:16
Speaker 10: he was staying there with his parents in a day's in.
36:20
Speaker 10: He was not convicted of that until eleven years later,
36:23
Speaker 10: and then when he was on death row for Sharon
36:25
Speaker 10: Zellar's there wasn't enough evidence to convict him, it was
36:28
Speaker 10: reversed and he went free. It was reported during that
36:31
Speaker 10: time he was free. He lived in Springfield, Missouri before
36:35
Speaker 10: then later, you know, just avoiding basically avoiding prison. He
36:41
Speaker 10: ended up going to prison later for kidnapping. He claimed
36:47
Speaker 10: that he had an alibi the night that the three
36:49
Speaker 10: women went missing. It was from his fiance and they
36:52
Speaker 10: said that they were at church. And then it later
36:54
Speaker 10: turns out that his fiance recanted her statement. He's in
36:58
Speaker 10: a Texas prison. He says that he knows where the
37:01
Speaker 10: women are, he knows where they're buried, and that he
37:04
Speaker 10: won't say until after his mother is dead. And his
37:07
Speaker 10: mother is still alive at this time.
37:08
Speaker 2: Tell me about the case of Sharon Sellers.
37:11
Speaker 10: So, Sharon Sellers was a young woman. She was getting
37:15
Speaker 10: off work later in the evening and her body was
37:20
Speaker 10: found that night. It was decomposed. It just so happened
37:24
Speaker 10: that Robert Craig Cox was visiting Florida during that time.
37:28
Speaker 10: I believe he was visiting from California, where he had lived,
37:31
Speaker 10: and he was staying with his parents at a day's in.
37:34
Speaker 10: He came back bloodied, part of his tongue was bitten off.
37:38
Speaker 10: At the time, there wasn't enough evidence to convict him,
37:42
Speaker 10: but he was convicted eleven years later, he said on
37:45
Speaker 10: death row. And then in the state of Florida, there
37:48
Speaker 10: wasn't enough evidence, and the conviction was reversed and he
37:51
Speaker 10: went free.
37:52
Speaker 2: And ends up right here in town where the girls
37:56
Speaker 2: go missing and Robert Jones. What do you make of
38:00
Speaker 2: a girlfriend's recantation?
38:02
Speaker 10: Well, you know, her daughter actually reached out to me
38:05
Speaker 10: after listening to the podcast and just listening to the
38:09
Speaker 10: episode about Robert Craig Cox, and was like, you know,
38:12
Speaker 10: I think I need to call in and talk about this.
38:13
Speaker 10: She had never spoken about it, but her mother was
38:16
Speaker 10: the one who was engaged to Robert Craig Cox, and
38:18
Speaker 10: they all lived in the home together, and her mother
38:21
Speaker 10: currently has Alzheimer's, so you know, we weren't able to
38:24
Speaker 10: get an interview with her, but her daughter told me
38:26
Speaker 10: that her mother did recant that statement at that you know,
38:30
Speaker 10: at the time, she was really in love with Robert
38:32
Speaker 10: Craig Cox. He was incredibly charismatic and had convinced her
38:37
Speaker 10: to say that they were at church together.
38:39
Speaker 2: To Rick book out, the former Springfield police officer first
38:43
Speaker 2: on the scene, what do you make of this guy?
38:45
Speaker 2: Do you think he is a killer?
38:48
Speaker 8: Well, you know, I don't know. I mean I really
38:51
Speaker 8: don't know. I've talked to detectives who have gone down
38:54
Speaker 8: and interviewed him, and you know they're they're just not
38:59
Speaker 8: real sure either.
39:01
Speaker 2: Good question to Ann Roderick Jones. What does this guy
39:06
Speaker 2: have to say, Robert Cox that could not be gleaned
39:10
Speaker 2: from media reports.
39:12
Speaker 10: You know, it's a great question, and I'm not sure
39:14
Speaker 10: that he does. I tried to get an interview with
39:17
Speaker 10: him and wasn't able to do so. He wasn't interested
39:20
Speaker 10: in it. But you know, it certainly could be sensationalizing this,
39:24
Speaker 10: which is you know why we just told the story
39:26
Speaker 10: from the facts that we had. Certainly didn't want to
39:28
Speaker 10: sensationalize this tragedy, and it seems that you know, he
39:32
Speaker 10: could he could certainly be doing so.
39:34
Speaker 2: To do to Sherry Schwartz forensic psychologists. It wouldn't be
39:37
Speaker 2: the first time that an inmate sought to enhance his
39:41
Speaker 2: reputation or notoriety by claiming responsibility for a notorious crime.
39:48
Speaker 11: Absolutely, it happens fairly frequently, unfortunately, and when I first
39:53
Speaker 11: heard that this person has claimed responsibility, it makes me
39:57
Speaker 11: wonder what kind of prove they're getting or uh, you know,
40:03
Speaker 11: in non technical terms, street cred in the prison or
40:06
Speaker 11: claiming responsibility, because I find it curious if they're looking
40:09
Speaker 11: for attention, why he wouldn't agree to be interviewed for
40:13
Speaker 11: the podcast.
40:13
Speaker 2: And he of course was his springful at the time
40:16
Speaker 2: of the disappearance and very very curious. Police went to
40:20
Speaker 2: speak to him immediately after the disappearance. As of right now,
40:26
Speaker 2: no resolution. If you have or think you have information
40:32
Speaker 2: about the disappearance of these women, please dial four one
40:35
Speaker 2: seven eight six four eighteen ten. Repeat four one seven
40:41
Speaker 2: eight six four eighteen ten. Nancy Grace Crim's story signing
40:46
Speaker 2: off Adviiseman