Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / TWO TEEN GIRLS DISAPPEAR, COPS STUMPED

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TWO TEEN GIRLS DISAPPEAR, COPS STUMPED · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. It's horrible enough for your
0:18
Speaker 1: teen child to go missing, compounded by the fear that
0:25
Speaker 1: she has been sex trafficked. Add On to that trolls,
0:33
Speaker 1: harassment from the public, harassing the girl's parents. This is
0:42
Speaker 1: so beast awkwards. I don't even know what to make
0:44
Speaker 1: of it. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank
0:47
Speaker 1: you for being with us here at Fox Nation and
0:50
Speaker 1: series X one eleven. I'm talking about a beautiful young girl,
0:55
Speaker 1: her family, pleading for help, her family convinced against all
1:01
Speaker 1: hopes anything they had ever imagined, that their child has
1:05
Speaker 1: been sex traffic takelest our cut five from our friends
1:09
Speaker 1: at CBS. Without her phone on her, it's making it
1:12
Speaker 1: more difficult to track her down. Neverthing is going to
1:15
Speaker 1: happen to you. I try to, you know, run this
1:20
Speaker 1: and enforce this, and reinforce this in her mind that
1:27
Speaker 1: she she cannot trust whoever she sees. It's a message
1:32
Speaker 1: for parents out there, keep an eye on your children's
1:34
Speaker 1: use of social media so that they don't become the
1:38
Speaker 1: next target. They prey upon, these these kids, and it's sickening.
1:42
Speaker 1: The Carroll County Sheriff's Office says they are reviewing Jones's
1:46
Speaker 1: social media records and followed up with the last person
1:49
Speaker 1: she had contact with. They are still actively searching for
1:53
Speaker 1: Jones and hasn't ruled out possibilities on what may have
1:56
Speaker 1: happened leading up to her disappearance. As you us heard,
2:00
Speaker 1: the family is so desperate for your help. If you
2:03
Speaker 1: know anything, contact the Carroll County Sheriff's Office as soon
2:07
Speaker 1: as possible. Not only is this teen girl missing, we
2:10
Speaker 1: think lured out of her home. She is autistic. She
2:15
Speaker 1: probably has no idea what is how this has happened
2:19
Speaker 1: to her. Take a listen to our cut for our
2:21
Speaker 1: friends at Channel forty six CBS. My daughter is Kaylee Jones.
2:26
Speaker 1: She's sixteen years old, Kayley Jones. So I was here
2:30
Speaker 1: at work and my wife called me about seven fifteen
2:33
Speaker 1: and she said Kayley was gone. Her parents haven't seen
2:36
Speaker 1: her for about a week. And it's hard for Daniel
2:39
Speaker 1: and Brenda Jones to go to sleep at night wondering
2:42
Speaker 1: where their daughter might be and is just gut wrenching
2:45
Speaker 1: knowing she's out there somewhere and we don't know where
2:47
Speaker 1: she's at all. The worst thoughts come to our minds.
2:50
Speaker 1: She's our daughter, and we desperately want her back. She
2:55
Speaker 1: has a big, huge part of us. Kayley is autistic.
2:58
Speaker 1: Because of that, her parents they are afraid their daughter
3:01
Speaker 1: was more vulnerable to any online predators. My wife found
3:04
Speaker 1: that she was talking to us like four or five
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Speaker 1: different guys via Snapchat. They took her phone away on
3:10
Speaker 1: Monday and by Wednesday morning, Jones was gone. This team
3:15
Speaker 1: girl also autistic, missing and now the parents are enduring
3:19
Speaker 1: even more more upheaval, more drama, more trauma. Take a
3:28
Speaker 1: list of our friends at crime online dot com. Kaylee
3:31
Speaker 1: Jones has been missing more than a month, and while
3:33
Speaker 1: tips have been coming into the police, that's not all.
3:36
Speaker 1: Brenda and Daniel Jones say they are facing online harassment.
3:40
Speaker 1: They say internet salutes, initially trying to pin down details
3:44
Speaker 1: to help find the girl, are now directing anger and
3:47
Speaker 1: accusations at the parents over how they're handling the investigation.
3:51
Speaker 1: Some are even threatening to come on the Jones property
3:54
Speaker 1: to search without permission. Joining me right now an all
3:57
Speaker 1: star panel to make sense of what is happening to
4:01
Speaker 1: Kelly's family right now, But I want to go to
4:04
Speaker 1: special Jess joining me. This is Kelly's father, Daniel Jones
4:08
Speaker 1: speaking to us and you can find him on Facebook.
4:11
Speaker 1: Where is Kelley Jones? Daniel It's kind of hard for
4:16
Speaker 1: me to take in you're do you're the one that
4:20
Speaker 1: contacted us. We found you by your desperate please on Twitter,
4:27
Speaker 1: on Facebook, on Insta. That's how we found you. Isn't
4:30
Speaker 1: that how we found them? Jackie? Yes, you're doing everything
4:33
Speaker 1: possible to find your daughter. Tell me what these so
4:37
Speaker 1: called trolls are doing. I mean it begins off with
4:41
Speaker 1: just they try to come out and say like they're
4:44
Speaker 1: they're gonna, you know, try to give offer and up help,
4:48
Speaker 1: and but they started wanting information and this and that
4:51
Speaker 1: and answers to this and ask them kind of questions
4:54
Speaker 1: that you know, number one, we don't know you, guys,
4:56
Speaker 1: we don't know who you are. We've never met you before,
4:58
Speaker 1: and you're trying to get these messages get his information.
5:00
Speaker 1: So it's like, wait a minute, you know the parent
5:02
Speaker 1: number one, and then doing the situation. Look, I don't
5:05
Speaker 1: need my daughter's information out there other than what the
5:07
Speaker 1: you know, Sheriff's office already did. What kind of information
5:10
Speaker 1: are they asking for? Daniel? Well, one of the one
5:13
Speaker 1: of the people that contact me, one of their data birth,
5:15
Speaker 1: which might not be that that bad, but why do
5:19
Speaker 1: you need your dat of birth? You know? Um, like
5:22
Speaker 1: I said, we have no idea who these people are.
5:23
Speaker 1: And then they're wanting to know, um specifics. And then
5:27
Speaker 1: one lady was trying to get trying to help, but
5:33
Speaker 1: she's forcibly. And then and you know they want to
5:35
Speaker 1: put up you know, bill boards and do this and
5:37
Speaker 1: do that, which, like I said, it sounds kind of ignorant,
5:40
Speaker 1: you know, saying it's it's aggressive, but it's not the
5:43
Speaker 1: actual what they were trying to help with is the
5:46
Speaker 1: one percent of the way they went about it. And
5:49
Speaker 1: then the one group, Um they're called the nerd bird Mafia.
5:54
Speaker 1: Who is the nerd bird Mafia? What is that? Daniel Jones?
5:59
Speaker 1: I honestly don't know, other than their group of sleuth
6:02
Speaker 1: I guess. And they they they're online, you know, investigators.
6:09
Speaker 1: I guess they're calling themselves and they do this and
6:11
Speaker 1: they do that, and they try to help People's what
6:13
Speaker 1: they're trying to say. But the more we've got into
6:16
Speaker 1: this when we write at the time and before the
6:19
Speaker 1: time they first started contacting us, we were warned, you know,
6:22
Speaker 1: be careful of these certain people. You know, they're going
6:25
Speaker 1: to pose as help, but they're not going to help.
6:27
Speaker 1: And then there's been I don't know how many people
6:29
Speaker 1: directly after the fact that got in contact with my wife,
6:34
Speaker 1: with Brenda the mom and told her that these people
6:38
Speaker 1: did the same thing to her. But we weren't giving
6:41
Speaker 1: them information. We were. We just stopped talking to them,
6:45
Speaker 1: So then they got more aggressive with us. But these
6:48
Speaker 1: people actually were giving them information and they were supposedly
6:51
Speaker 1: helping them, and they just random to the Ringers the
6:55
Speaker 1: same way. Okay, what if anything are they threatening? Well,
6:59
Speaker 1: I mean they they just the main thing is now
7:02
Speaker 1: that they make accusations and trying to turn it, you know,
7:06
Speaker 1: turn everything that you know that maybe I've done something
7:08
Speaker 1: with her. They made accusations that I believed her, you
7:11
Speaker 1: know some some of her social media offer computer before
7:14
Speaker 1: the police came and to the computer. Then now they
7:17
Speaker 1: want to come search the property, whether I like it
7:19
Speaker 1: or not. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, that's a lot.
7:22
Speaker 1: That's a lot right there. I want to go through
7:24
Speaker 1: each thing that you're saying. But Cheryl McCollum is joining me,
7:27
Speaker 1: Founder and director of the Cold Case Research Institute, forensic
7:31
Speaker 1: expert Cheryl thank you for being with us. What do
7:34
Speaker 1: you make of what Daniel Jones is telling us right now, Cheryl,
7:38
Speaker 1: that's not helping anything, not at all. And you want
7:42
Speaker 1: to maintain the integrity of an investigation, Nancy, and you
7:45
Speaker 1: certainly do not want to ever compromise or interfere with
7:49
Speaker 1: an investigation. Number one. You can be charged with a
7:52
Speaker 1: crime if you do that. And you've got the Secret
7:56
Speaker 1: Service and the US Marshal and the FBI and the
7:58
Speaker 1: GBI and Carroll County FO. There's a lot of people
8:02
Speaker 1: out there trying to find her and you know, bring
8:05
Speaker 1: her home safely. And I don't know why this group
8:08
Speaker 1: number one doesn't direct their efforts to these folks, say hey,
8:13
Speaker 1: Carol County, we can help volunteer for a search if
8:16
Speaker 1: Carol County puts one together. But you don't just Maverick
8:20
Speaker 1: and boondog and go on your own and do it.
8:23
Speaker 1: Tell Carson is joining me, high profile lawyer and former
8:26
Speaker 1: FED with the FBI. He's joining us out of Jacksonville,
8:29
Speaker 1: Del Carson. I mean, it's not just offering to help.
8:33
Speaker 1: According to Daniel Jones, this is Kelly's dad. They are
8:37
Speaker 1: people are going online and they are trolling and trashing
8:44
Speaker 1: Kelly's parents, accusing them of wrongdoing, threatening to tramp onto
8:48
Speaker 1: their property and search. This is some bearded guy in
8:53
Speaker 1: a basement somewhere who's a want of thee. And as
8:56
Speaker 1: Cheryl will tell you, there are plenty of one of
8:58
Speaker 1: these out there. They want to get involved, they want
9:01
Speaker 1: to have a presence, and social media has largely allowed
9:05
Speaker 1: that and it's caused more problems really than it's solved. Well,
9:09
Speaker 1: the thing is, I encourage volunteers to help. Doctor Sherry
9:14
Speaker 1: Schwartz joining US forensics psychologist you can find her at
9:18
Speaker 1: panthermitigation dot com and author of criminal Behavior. When does
9:22
Speaker 1: it cross the line from helping to intimidating and trolling?
9:27
Speaker 1: And what do you make these people that go online
9:30
Speaker 1: and they're kind of anonymous, you don't really know who
9:33
Speaker 1: they are basically threatening Kelly's parents. I mean, haven't they
9:37
Speaker 1: already lived through enough? Exactly? And this is the first
9:40
Speaker 1: clue because a group that is well meaning and really
9:44
Speaker 1: wants to get out there and help raise awareness isn't
9:47
Speaker 1: going to obscure their identity. They certainly aren't going to
9:51
Speaker 1: lend themselves to creating chaos. And really, this is statistic behavior.
9:58
Speaker 1: It appears to be from every thing I've seen online
10:01
Speaker 1: from this group that they don't just troll Keiley's family,
10:06
Speaker 1: they do this with other missing individuals as well, and
10:10
Speaker 1: that it really is all about creating chaos and harming
10:15
Speaker 1: the people, the families, tearing these families apart. Time stories
10:34
Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace. Here, you've got Brenda and Daniel begging, crying, publicizing,
10:43
Speaker 1: and going on the internet begging for help. That's how
10:47
Speaker 1: I found them, Cheryl. They're begging for he longline that
10:51
Speaker 1: does not sound like a parent that has involved in
10:55
Speaker 1: the disappearance of their child. They usually shrink away from
10:59
Speaker 1: the spotlight and don't answer questions. That's right, and they've
11:02
Speaker 1: been open and honest about telling the good and the
11:04
Speaker 1: bad about what was happening. But there's two other things
11:07
Speaker 1: I want to point out when this group post online
11:10
Speaker 1: things like here's the number for the you know, PIO
11:13
Speaker 1: at the Sheriff's Department, y'all know what to do, nerds.
11:16
Speaker 1: Or they say they're coming on to private property to
11:19
Speaker 1: search let's just say Devil's Advocate. They find a body
11:24
Speaker 1: during an illegal search, they don't forensically know how to
11:27
Speaker 1: handle it, and it's already done. You've already screwed this
11:30
Speaker 1: whole case up by doing what you did illegally. So
11:34
Speaker 1: again they need to stand down and let the professionals
11:37
Speaker 1: do their job. Well wait a minute, Wait a minute, Cheryl,
11:40
Speaker 1: how many times have you I said publicly what is
11:44
Speaker 1: wrong with the police? And that's when we want we
11:47
Speaker 1: welcome volunteers. I mean, think about Gabbie Petito. If that
11:52
Speaker 1: citizen it was, wasn't it red Blue and the Thane
11:54
Speaker 1: something but thing something that saw her Zan alerted authority
12:00
Speaker 1: and within hours they found Gabby's remains. If it had
12:04
Speaker 1: not been for citizen involvement, we would never know have
12:08
Speaker 1: known what happened. We wouldn't even know Gabby if Gabby
12:10
Speaker 1: was dead or alive, Nancy. As you well know, the
12:13
Speaker 1: Colcase Institute, we are based on volunteers. I am all
12:17
Speaker 1: about volunteers, but one you gotta be legitimate. You gotta
12:21
Speaker 1: be doing things legally, and you don't go somewhere where
12:25
Speaker 1: you're not wanted, and you don't harass somebody and say hey,
12:28
Speaker 1: we're coming anyway. I don't know about not going where
12:31
Speaker 1: you're not wanting, because I don't think I've ever busted
12:33
Speaker 1: up in a crime scene where I was wanted. Okay,
12:35
Speaker 1: that has never stop made. But but Cheryl McCollum accusing
12:41
Speaker 1: and harassing the parents. But if a victim's family is
12:46
Speaker 1: saying please don't do this. But Daniel James, what are
12:49
Speaker 1: they accusing you? And runned up off? I mean, she's
12:52
Speaker 1: the one that wakes up first thing in the morning
12:55
Speaker 1: and cause you and says she's gone. You leave work.
13:00
Speaker 1: You don't even then you'll call your boss, I gotta go.
13:02
Speaker 1: You go home immediately, you'll call police. You do everything,
13:06
Speaker 1: it's text book, Yes, everything you did. So what are
13:11
Speaker 1: they accusing you of? Specifically? There's a lot And honestly,
13:15
Speaker 1: my mind is flooded and I'm just in the middle
13:18
Speaker 1: of this and distraught number one. So it's like I
13:21
Speaker 1: don't have a total focus of everything, and I can't
13:23
Speaker 1: remember every little thing. I'll take anything. Mainly, like I said,
13:26
Speaker 1: it's where they're coming to ask for help or you know,
13:30
Speaker 1: offer and help. But then we kind of don't, you know,
13:32
Speaker 1: give him the help. Then they say, well, well, Danny
13:35
Speaker 1: asked for a search, you know, and we want to
13:37
Speaker 1: come search, but he doesn't want to search. We'll wait
13:39
Speaker 1: a second. That was something that I said I wish
13:42
Speaker 1: the police had done the first day. They didn't. We
13:45
Speaker 1: have sent had the property searched. They didn't find anything.
13:49
Speaker 1: They didn't find any any recent trails, sent trails of
13:53
Speaker 1: my daughter on the property. So we're good with there.
13:56
Speaker 1: So are they accusing you and your wife have any wrongdoing?
14:00
Speaker 1: Where in there? I deleted the computer or my daughters.
14:03
Speaker 1: I deleted evidence or something, And I'm like, I'm like, okay,
14:08
Speaker 1: but I don't even know why I would have deleted
14:10
Speaker 1: whatever I deleted. Maybe, So are you saying you did
14:12
Speaker 1: not delete anything? No, I didn't let anything on the computer.
14:16
Speaker 1: I was doing everything I could to try to find it.
14:18
Speaker 1: I'm embarrassed to even ask you that, but I had to.
14:22
Speaker 1: Nicole Parton joining me Crime Online dot Com investigative reporter.
14:25
Speaker 1: How has this whole thing gotten so out of hand?
14:27
Speaker 1: Instead of trying to find Kiley, they're going after the parents, right, Nancy.
14:33
Speaker 1: And we're seeing this more and more due to social media.
14:37
Speaker 1: We have these wannabes, as was said earlier, who want
14:41
Speaker 1: to get to the bottom, and maybe some of them
14:43
Speaker 1: are very innocent and wanting to help, but then they
14:46
Speaker 1: crossed the line of starting these accusations and taking the
14:50
Speaker 1: focus off of what really matters, and that's finding Cayley,
14:53
Speaker 1: and began focusing on and putting all the efforts and
14:56
Speaker 1: energies into the parents and all of this crazy things
15:01
Speaker 1: I read online like, oh, the parents must be guilty
15:03
Speaker 1: of something. They don't have a lot of signs in
15:06
Speaker 1: their yard. Oh the parents must be guilty of something.
15:09
Speaker 1: I saw them smile to you, Daniel Jones joining me.
15:12
Speaker 1: This is Kelly's father here again, begging for help, trying
15:16
Speaker 1: to find his daughter. And you know, Daniel, I've told
15:19
Speaker 1: you that three minute episode when John David snuck away
15:23
Speaker 1: from me when he was a little boy at Baby Superstore.
15:27
Speaker 1: I mean, those three minutes were just three the worst
15:30
Speaker 1: minutes of my life. I mean I was screaming, lock
15:33
Speaker 1: the doors. I had Lucy under my arm like a football,
15:38
Speaker 1: running through the store, and I just can't only imagine
15:43
Speaker 1: what has been going through your mind, hoping your daughter
15:47
Speaker 1: is still a life for Pete's sake, and then to
15:51
Speaker 1: have somebody attack you because they saw your wife smile somewhere.
15:55
Speaker 1: I just, I mean, how does that make you feel?
15:57
Speaker 1: Because I feel like dirt and thinking about it, well,
16:01
Speaker 1: I mean Sherry just said that right right there. I mean,
16:04
Speaker 1: that's part of the accusations and stuff that they're making
16:06
Speaker 1: is that we laughed during one of the interviews. Um,
16:10
Speaker 1: you know, laughing on an interview. Well, she just said it.
16:12
Speaker 1: I was kind of nervous. I didn't. We didn't. You
16:14
Speaker 1: don't really know how to act. And it's like something
16:17
Speaker 1: was said and it kind of resonates truth. So you
16:20
Speaker 1: do that. But you know they're they're putting out like
16:23
Speaker 1: it's not a big deal, and it is. We didn't
16:26
Speaker 1: go out passing out flyers and no sign on the
16:31
Speaker 1: front yard, but we did pass out flyers and we
16:34
Speaker 1: had multiple people pass out flyers the very first Saturday
16:37
Speaker 1: after she disappeared. Daniel, you've been working like a dog
16:40
Speaker 1: to try to find your daughter. You are do not
16:44
Speaker 1: have to defend yourself to me. And believe me, I've
16:48
Speaker 1: gone after plenty of parents that I thought were involved
16:52
Speaker 1: in the disappearance and death of their children, and I
16:55
Speaker 1: have paid dearly for it. But from what I can tell,
17:00
Speaker 1: there is no need for you to have to defend
17:03
Speaker 1: yourself to me. Back to you, Nicole parton joining me
17:08
Speaker 1: crime online dot com So there are internet trolls flooding online,
17:14
Speaker 1: accusing and harassing Kelly's parents while they're still trying to
17:18
Speaker 1: find their daughter. By the way, the reward is up
17:20
Speaker 1: to five thousand dollars the Sheriff's office number seven seven
17:25
Speaker 1: zero eight three zero five nine four two repeat seven
17:29
Speaker 1: seven zero eight three zero five nine four two. Nicole
17:33
Speaker 1: explain to me, I cut you off, and when you
17:37
Speaker 1: were talking about someone attacking the family because they saw
17:41
Speaker 1: them smile, because it triggered a really bad memory. What
17:45
Speaker 1: else is happening? I understand their internet trolls. There are
17:48
Speaker 1: people threatening to stampede their property. What else is going on? Right? Absolutely,
17:54
Speaker 1: there are even people who found this family online and
17:58
Speaker 1: they're going to the parents a place of pointment. What
18:00
Speaker 1: did you say about a drone? It's been reported this
18:04
Speaker 1: that some of these online trolls had even flown drones
18:07
Speaker 1: over the family property, flying drones over the house, Daniel Jones,
18:11
Speaker 1: Is this true? Yes, ma'am. The guy pat drove whoever
18:14
Speaker 1: it was, drove by our house and made a nice
18:17
Speaker 1: video of it, and then had aerial shots from his
18:20
Speaker 1: drone that he flew directly over our house and everything.
18:22
Speaker 1: He went to the horse farm where I worked and
18:26
Speaker 1: taking you know, flew his drone around there and was
18:29
Speaker 1: videoed himself whistling at horses on the property and everything.
18:35
Speaker 1: But it's like these guys don't even care. This same group,
18:42
Speaker 1: this same group actually made their own tip line right
18:47
Speaker 1: before the Sheriff's office put their tip line up or whatever.
18:50
Speaker 1: And it's like, why would you do something like that,
18:52
Speaker 1: because they want to get the tips and they want
18:54
Speaker 1: to have control over it. But and that's the same
18:56
Speaker 1: thing with the search. They said earlier, I don't want
19:00
Speaker 1: you got here planning planting evidence, you know for whatever
19:03
Speaker 1: read And how do I know you're not against me?
19:04
Speaker 1: So sending a drone over your property, going to your
19:08
Speaker 1: place of war? What did they do when they got there, Well,
19:11
Speaker 1: they pulled up on the on the side of the road,
19:14
Speaker 1: which actually it's all private property down in there, and
19:18
Speaker 1: they just took a short little video and put a
19:20
Speaker 1: posted on Twitter that you know, whistling at the horses.
19:23
Speaker 1: Look not pertinent to the case, but just had to share.
19:28
Speaker 1: And he's whistling at the horses that they were responding
19:30
Speaker 1: to him, And he flew a drone around the one
19:34
Speaker 1: house that's right there, and you know, over those horses
19:37
Speaker 1: and several other horses and kind of like aggravating the horses.
19:40
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a lot and the last thing you
19:42
Speaker 1: need right now is to lose your job. Daniel, do
19:44
Speaker 1: you believe Kelley is still alive? In my heart of hearts, yes,
19:49
Speaker 1: I've prayed more than once. My wife and I've prayed,
19:52
Speaker 1: and I've prayed with people, and there's people praying like crazy.
19:55
Speaker 1: The Lord is going to protect her no matter what.
19:57
Speaker 1: But I still have a feeling that she is alive,
19:59
Speaker 1: that there's that hasn't that hasn't kind of hit me
20:05
Speaker 1: as as as nothing yet. I just think that she's
20:09
Speaker 1: out there somewhere, whether she's been trafficked or moved on.
20:12
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe somebody thought they were helping her. My daughter's
20:15
Speaker 1: out there somewhere alive and somebody's either helping her um
20:19
Speaker 1: and you know, keeping her a library, which which which
20:22
Speaker 1: I thank you. But you guys, you need to let
20:23
Speaker 1: her go. We need to get her home. If you
20:26
Speaker 1: have any information, please call seven seven zero eight three
20:30
Speaker 1: zero five nine Time Stories with Nancy Grace and now
20:48
Speaker 1: we take you all the way from Georgia to Alabama
20:53
Speaker 1: and the disappearance of a gorgeous teen girl. What happened
20:59
Speaker 1: to Tarashia? Take a listen. The National Center for Missing
21:03
Speaker 1: and Exploited Children is asking for the public's help and
21:06
Speaker 1: the continuing effort to find the missing team. On June
21:09
Speaker 1: twenty sixth to Russia, Benjamin left home headed to the
21:12
Speaker 1: Selma Flea Market to do a little shopping, just like
21:15
Speaker 1: she did most Saturday mornings, but this time she never
21:18
Speaker 1: came home every days to wake up and miss a
21:22
Speaker 1: loved one. And I know where they're what they're going through.
21:26
Speaker 1: What happened. We need to know what happened to the one? Soho,
21:30
Speaker 1: we need to know. You are hearing our friends at
21:34
Speaker 1: CBS eight and the anguished family of this Well, she's
21:39
Speaker 1: a little girl. She's just seventeen years old when she
21:43
Speaker 1: went missing. That's just three years older than my twins, John,
21:49
Speaker 1: David and Lucy. And I just cannot even imagine going
21:54
Speaker 1: to pick them up, say at school, and they're not
21:57
Speaker 1: being there, or them going outside to play and I
22:02
Speaker 1: never see them again. That is what this family is suffering.
22:09
Speaker 1: I hate to even put myself in their shoes. But
22:14
Speaker 1: in order to find this girl, that's what we're doing. Now.
22:19
Speaker 1: Take a listen to Regina Benjamin speaking on dre Birch
22:25
Speaker 1: YouTube My House with Friends earlier. But the girl that
22:30
Speaker 1: she loved with Alicia, Yeah man, she and she came
22:32
Speaker 1: back to look to Ross said to take an overviea
22:36
Speaker 1: what she gave rust to be able to go to the
22:38
Speaker 1: the seat market and she ain't got out to do
22:40
Speaker 1: a friends there, so she said she didn't know you
22:42
Speaker 1: need Rashia had up two friends in Mouth that didn't
22:45
Speaker 1: really know what she was. Joining me an all star
22:47
Speaker 1: panel to make sense of what we know. But first
22:50
Speaker 1: I want to go to our friend at crime online
22:52
Speaker 1: dot Com, Dave Mac. You know, I'm looking at Terasha
22:57
Speaker 1: Benjamin and a lot of the pictures that are posted
23:01
Speaker 1: of her include her going to some event and she's
23:06
Speaker 1: all dressed up in this beautiful royal blue halter long
23:11
Speaker 1: dress and she's got the big drop earrings and she's
23:16
Speaker 1: actually got her hair piled up and she's wearing a tiara.
23:21
Speaker 1: And every time I think about Tarasha, I see that
23:24
Speaker 1: picture in my mind. There's another picture that I like
23:27
Speaker 1: a lot, and it's of her looking full on and
23:31
Speaker 1: she's got some little hoop earrings on, little silver earrings
23:36
Speaker 1: and she's looking sideways at the camera with this million
23:40
Speaker 1: dollar smile, and then it hits me, this girl is gone.
23:44
Speaker 1: Tell me about the day that she goes missing, Dave
23:48
Speaker 1: mac Nancy was a typical Saturday morning for Tarasha. She
23:53
Speaker 1: liked to go to the flea market. It was a
23:55
Speaker 1: regular part of her life was Saturday morning running down
23:59
Speaker 1: to the sum of Flee mark and doing a little shopping.
24:01
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, she had already been earlier
24:03
Speaker 1: in the morning and she had come back home and
24:06
Speaker 1: was talking to her mother, and her friend Telicia, came
24:09
Speaker 1: over and they decided they were going to go on
24:11
Speaker 1: back down to the flea market, and that's what they did.
24:14
Speaker 1: So on the way to the flea market, they actually
24:16
Speaker 1: stopped at a yard tale that a friend was having
24:18
Speaker 1: and had some discussions with some folks, but then headed
24:21
Speaker 1: on down there. That's where they parted company. Talicia stayed there.
24:24
Speaker 1: Well wait, wait, wait, wait a minute, wait a minute.
24:26
Speaker 1: So let me understand this. Tarasha and friend go to
24:30
Speaker 1: the flea market, right, correct, But then the friend and
24:32
Speaker 1: Tarasha separate at the flea market, right you know who
24:36
Speaker 1: that's reminding me. It's reminding me of Natalie Holloway and
24:39
Speaker 1: I'll tell you why, because you know Natalie, also there
24:44
Speaker 1: in Alabama in the Mountain Brook area, goes on her
24:47
Speaker 1: senior trip and they're in Aruba and she goes to
24:53
Speaker 1: a casino and then onto a bar called I think
24:59
Speaker 1: Carols and Alleys, and I mean, I've been there, now,
25:03
Speaker 1: how can I get that out of my mind? And
25:05
Speaker 1: then she gets separated from her friends and she drives
25:10
Speaker 1: away with people she doesn't know, and she's never seen
25:14
Speaker 1: alive again. And for those of you that don't know
25:17
Speaker 1: what a flea market is, okay, Joe Scott Morgan is
25:22
Speaker 1: joining me from Alabama. Just got Morgan, Professor Forensics, Jacksonville
25:27
Speaker 1: State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet, and host
25:31
Speaker 1: of a hit series on iHeart Body Bags with Joe
25:34
Speaker 1: Scott Morgan, Jo Scott, A flea market is more than
25:40
Speaker 1: you're going to buy something, think of a It's like
25:44
Speaker 1: a street market kind of a lot of people would
25:46
Speaker 1: be familiar with that. I know in New York, where
25:50
Speaker 1: I lived for so long, there were street markets practically
25:53
Speaker 1: every weekend that close off huge swaths of an avenue
25:59
Speaker 1: and it would be a mingling. People would go to
26:03
Speaker 1: eat that be sampling all sorts of food and then
26:07
Speaker 1: be buying stuff. And at this flea market in Selma,
26:13
Speaker 1: that's what it was. The whole communities in and out.
26:16
Speaker 1: You know, people there, people are eating their vendors with
26:19
Speaker 1: foods and drinks, and people are selling their stuff they
26:23
Speaker 1: want to get rid of. And you know, there's new
26:26
Speaker 1: vendors there with new things they've just made. It's it's
26:30
Speaker 1: more like a happening. Yeah it is, and people people
26:34
Speaker 1: show up from all over. It's not just the local
26:36
Speaker 1: folks there. Selma in that area of the state is
26:41
Speaker 1: a major location for people to go to. You know,
26:43
Speaker 1: there's it's surrounded by a huge rural swath of countryside
26:50
Speaker 1: that's called the black Belt, which is just this rich,
26:52
Speaker 1: fertile soil in there. A lot of farmers, that sort
26:55
Speaker 1: of thing. And this is the interesting thing. I think,
26:59
Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken, this particular flea market not only
27:02
Speaker 1: has the stalls that you can rent where you sell
27:05
Speaker 1: your goods and that sort of thing, but I think,
27:07
Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken, there is actually an RV park
27:10
Speaker 1: that's associated with this particular flea market. I don't like it.
27:16
Speaker 1: I don't like it. And you're bringing to mine another
27:19
Speaker 1: case that I investigated and covered, the case of Danielle
27:23
Speaker 1: van Dam. She was a little girl out of California
27:28
Speaker 1: who went missing in the debt of night from her
27:30
Speaker 1: own home. Much like Elizabeth Smart, she had been spirited
27:35
Speaker 1: away by a neighbor and David Westerfield and had been
27:41
Speaker 1: in his RV being abused and molested. Guy knows how
27:46
Speaker 1: long before she was ultimately murdered. When you bring in
27:51
Speaker 1: a flea market where there are local people, I was
27:55
Speaker 1: just out a flea market with my family and there
27:57
Speaker 1: was a guy there, Joe Scott, that had on all
28:00
Speaker 1: sorts of homemade honeys. He was what do you call
28:05
Speaker 1: a beekeeper. I'm sure there's a specific name, but he
28:09
Speaker 1: was a beekeeper and made his own honey, and we
28:14
Speaker 1: were tasting it and having a good time and walking around.
28:18
Speaker 1: But when you throw in vendors from far away, not
28:23
Speaker 1: just in Selma, and then you throw in an RV
28:27
Speaker 1: part which is exigent you can leave in an RV
28:33
Speaker 1: with somebody in the RV, that really opens up your
28:37
Speaker 1: pool of suspects. Yeah, it does, and you're kind of
28:41
Speaker 1: in a bubble at that point in time. If you
28:43
Speaker 1: can spirit somebody. First off, if you can convince them,
28:46
Speaker 1: and this is a young girl, if you can convince
28:49
Speaker 1: them to come to the RV and get them in there,
28:52
Speaker 1: and Lord only knows what's going to happen when they
28:54
Speaker 1: get you in there, and then they can just drive
28:56
Speaker 1: off and no one's the wiser at that point in time.
28:59
Speaker 1: Then you got and there's not an interstate, but there's
29:02
Speaker 1: a major state highway that runs right through the middle
29:05
Speaker 1: of Seldom east west, and you can hop on any
29:08
Speaker 1: number of interstates from that point. You know, sixty five,
29:12
Speaker 1: you're headed down toward Mobile at that point, and on
29:14
Speaker 1: it ten any number of ways that you can go north.
29:18
Speaker 1: And so that's what's troubling about this for me person.
29:20
Speaker 1: I don't like it. I don't like it at all.
29:23
Speaker 1: We've talked about this before, Joe Scott Morgan, you know
29:25
Speaker 1: everything you say is bad, Joe Scott, when you pipe
29:29
Speaker 1: back up when you have something good to tell me.
29:31
Speaker 1: Because I often use this example regarding rural areas that
29:35
Speaker 1: you would think would be safe and a low crime rate,
29:39
Speaker 1: I very often bring up the case of Shaston and
29:43
Speaker 1: Dylan Granny, the little boy and girl that were kidnapped
29:48
Speaker 1: and molested horribly. Dylan was murdered in Queer delayne Idaho,
29:55
Speaker 1: and I will never forget the first time I flew
29:58
Speaker 1: over it to look down and there was nothing but
30:02
Speaker 1: green Dnse DNSE wooded area. And because of the interstate,
30:07
Speaker 1: like the one you just mentioned, Joe Scott ten a
30:11
Speaker 1: trucker was driving by and at a distance saw Shasta
30:14
Speaker 1: Grownee at an above ground pool. He whipped off the interstate,
30:18
Speaker 1: laid in wait, and he murdered her whole family in
30:22
Speaker 1: order to get her and her little brother, Dylan Grownie.
30:26
Speaker 1: That's right. So the fact that you're in a rural
30:29
Speaker 1: area does not make you safe by any means, as
30:33
Speaker 1: we're learning in the case that we're talking about right now.
30:36
Speaker 1: Terasha Benjamin just seventeen years old, as Dave Matt from
30:41
Speaker 1: Crime Online just told us, she goes to the flea market.
30:44
Speaker 1: Didn't you say it was it a Saturday or Sunday morning, Dave?
30:47
Speaker 1: It was a Saturday morning, Nancy. And I know that
30:50
Speaker 1: when I was researching this, I saw a couple of
30:52
Speaker 1: different missing person's websites that had as a Sunday morning.
30:56
Speaker 1: It was Saturday morning, and this was a normal thing.
30:59
Speaker 1: Jim twenty six two ten, a little five barted this.
31:03
Speaker 1: Nancy Tarasha's father, Clyde Chandler, went missing ten months before
31:09
Speaker 1: this happened in the same area he was found. His
31:13
Speaker 1: body was found a couple of days later in September
31:16
Speaker 1: of two thousand and nine, behind a steak pit in Selma.
31:19
Speaker 1: But ten months after that, Tarashia goes missing, and again
31:23
Speaker 1: we know that she was on her way to the
31:25
Speaker 1: flea market with her friend Telicia Gavan. They stopped at
31:28
Speaker 1: a yard sale that a friend was having. A relative
31:31
Speaker 1: was there who used Tarasha's phone. Okay, but at some
31:35
Speaker 1: point in time Telicia and Tarasha split up. They were
31:40
Speaker 1: using to Lesha's car. It was a gray Mossive Tribute
31:43
Speaker 1: truck and Tealicia let Tarasha drive the truck to the
31:48
Speaker 1: flea market. Felicia did not go with her. Was the
31:51
Speaker 1: truck ever recovered? It was actually that was the whole
31:55
Speaker 1: kick on this entire case. The car was actually found
32:00
Speaker 1: the bypass. It's actually called the Cecil Jackson Bypass in Selma.
32:04
Speaker 1: It was about a mile away from the flea market,
32:07
Speaker 1: but pointed going away from the flea market, pointed in
32:10
Speaker 1: the opposite direction. Dave Matt, you are absolutely correct. Take
32:14
Speaker 1: a listen to our friends at CBS eight. Cart Russia
32:18
Speaker 1: was driving the day she went missing, was found abandoned
32:20
Speaker 1: on the Selma Bypass, but to Russia was nowhere to
32:23
Speaker 1: be found. Her disappearance has taken a serious toll on
32:27
Speaker 1: her entire family, especially her mother. Her mother had literally
32:31
Speaker 1: worried herself. She's in the hospital and it's just because
32:38
Speaker 1: she's doesn't know where her child is. And more in
32:43
Speaker 1: our cut three from our friends at crime Online, witnesses
32:47
Speaker 1: come forward to say to Russia Benjamin had been seen
32:50
Speaker 1: at the Selma Flea Market when the suv was found
32:53
Speaker 1: abandoned on Cecil Jackson Bypass, just a mile from the
32:56
Speaker 1: flea market. It was parked heading in the opposite director.
33:00
Speaker 1: The driver's side windows were missing and the door handle
33:03
Speaker 1: on the driver's side was broken. Several strands of long
33:06
Speaker 1: black hair were found caught in one of the door handles.
33:10
Speaker 1: Jessica Morgan, Professor Forensics, there was a struggle wherever Tarasha went.
33:16
Speaker 1: She did not go willingly, no, apparently not. And when
33:20
Speaker 1: you begin to think about this, these torn items, just
33:24
Speaker 1: the hair alone, I think is significant because that gives
33:28
Speaker 1: you an idea that it was actually plucked from the
33:31
Speaker 1: head perhaps, And the question is would it be able
33:37
Speaker 1: to be tied back specifically to her at that moment? Tom,
33:41
Speaker 1: But to a bigger point, did anybody witness this happen?
33:45
Speaker 1: From what you were saying, Nancy, this sounds like an incredibly,
33:49
Speaker 1: incredibly violent act. You're talking about door handles being busted off, glass,
33:54
Speaker 1: broken hair. Did anybody see or hear anything? Because I
33:58
Speaker 1: can only imagine a child sage would have been screaming
34:01
Speaker 1: out because, like you said, this is evidence of a
34:04
Speaker 1: violent struggle. To John W. Deal, high profile lawyer joining
34:08
Speaker 1: us out on Winter Park, Florida, the author of the
34:10
Speaker 1: method Proven Techniques for Winning Jury Trials. You can find
34:14
Speaker 1: him at Johnwdeal dot com. John. So often, as a
34:19
Speaker 1: case goes on, memories fade. I've had cases that I
34:25
Speaker 1: took to trial where witnesses had actually died and I
34:30
Speaker 1: didn't have that witness anymore. But as the months passed
34:34
Speaker 1: following Tarash's disappearance, we're going to have less and less
34:39
Speaker 1: likelihood of a witness ever coming forward. Yeah, that's true.
34:43
Speaker 1: It's unfortunate. This reminds me of my client Von Stewart
34:47
Speaker 1: and your daughter, Michelle Parker right. Also, it's been several
34:50
Speaker 1: years now, the mom is still trying to keep the
34:53
Speaker 1: case in everybody's forefront or everybody's mine. But your point's
34:56
Speaker 1: exactly true. I mean the critical time periods in the
35:00
Speaker 1: days weeks after an incident, but memories fade, people disappear
35:04
Speaker 1: or die, people don't want to get involved. It's very
35:07
Speaker 1: challenging the longer it goes on without a witness that
35:10
Speaker 1: comes from Karen Start the trial reality that John Dial
35:15
Speaker 1: is talking about. It is so true. Karen Stark is
35:18
Speaker 1: joining New York psychologists joining us from Manhattan at karen
35:21
Speaker 1: Start dot com. That's Karen with a see Karen. At
35:25
Speaker 1: this point, with Tarasha missing so long, people that may
35:31
Speaker 1: have seen something at the time would probably not piece
35:35
Speaker 1: it together with the story they see all they need
35:38
Speaker 1: is now. Well, I think, Nancy, when you think about,
35:40
Speaker 1: you know, people's testimony to what they've seen. The longer
35:44
Speaker 1: the time passes, the more you're gonna have misinformation. It's
35:50
Speaker 1: just taking such a long time. And I'm also thinking
35:52
Speaker 1: about the family and how they're coping with this, because
35:57
Speaker 1: it's awful. It's just I can't think of anything worse, right,
36:01
Speaker 1: that your child is missing. You know, I want to
36:03
Speaker 1: go straight back out to Dave Matt joining us crime
36:06
Speaker 1: online dot com investigative reporter Dave take a listen to
36:10
Speaker 1: our cut for our friends at crime Online. After Tarasha
36:15
Speaker 1: Benjamin was reported missing, nive teams searched local bodies of
36:19
Speaker 1: water and went door to door looking for witnesses, but
36:22
Speaker 1: no clues as to Tarasha's whereabouts were found. There have
36:25
Speaker 1: been unconfirmed sightings of Tarassia and Florida, prompting her family
36:29
Speaker 1: to travel several times there to search for her. Selma
36:33
Speaker 1: police say they are still looking for Tarassha Benjamin, but
36:36
Speaker 1: they need information from the public to help them move
36:39
Speaker 1: the investigation forward. You know, Karen start, I know people
36:43
Speaker 1: mean well and they think they've seen her to calling in,
36:47
Speaker 1: but also there are people that maliciously give false tips
36:51
Speaker 1: and it puts the family through so much anguish. Why
36:54
Speaker 1: would anyone do something like that, Well, there are people
36:58
Speaker 1: who really enjoy being mean that way, Nancy. I know
37:04
Speaker 1: nobody wants to think that of us as having that insight,
37:07
Speaker 1: but there are people that are malicious that really want
37:12
Speaker 1: to this lead the police get negative attention and enjoy
37:17
Speaker 1: being part of whatever this investigation is, in whatever way
37:22
Speaker 1: they can. Unfortunately that that's a part of human nature.
37:26
Speaker 1: I'm wanting to take a listen to Regina Benjamin. This
37:29
Speaker 1: is Tarasha's mother speaking about how she realized hurting girl
37:35
Speaker 1: was missing. Take a listen to our cut eight, which
37:39
Speaker 1: they did come back, and her unders is love hand
37:42
Speaker 1: backs how I found out to watch you, miss that's
37:44
Speaker 1: about two. I know who makes clob That's when I
37:48
Speaker 1: started calling around people's like watching the truck on about
37:51
Speaker 1: being about love. That called oh yeah, Trump's on about
37:55
Speaker 1: and went from now so Dave Mike. Around two o'clock
37:59
Speaker 1: in the afternoon, the mom says, wait, wait, the flea
38:03
Speaker 1: market's over. She's not home. Is that what happened? That's
38:08
Speaker 1: exactly what happened. On top of the fact that the
38:10
Speaker 1: flea market was closed, Talicia came back to Tlica Givon,
38:14
Speaker 1: who Tarasha left with earlier in the day. Telicia Givon
38:19
Speaker 1: comes back to the house looking for Tarasha, and that's
38:22
Speaker 1: when missus Benjamin, Regina says, wait a minute, she was
38:26
Speaker 1: with you. You're here and you don't know where she is.
38:30
Speaker 1: And that's when she goes the flea market is closed,
38:32
Speaker 1: and she starts calling everybody she knows, and that's where
38:36
Speaker 1: she started. She knew immediately that Tarasha was missing. Staying
38:40
Speaker 1: together as one of the biggest tips in keeping safe.
38:45
Speaker 1: My twins are forever a lot together. We went to
38:47
Speaker 1: a football game the other night and made them both
38:50
Speaker 1: promise that they would not leave each other's side. Can
38:53
Speaker 1: you imagine a boy and a girl of fourteen having
38:55
Speaker 1: to stay together the whole football game, but they did
38:59
Speaker 1: under at the punishment. Where does the case stand now?
39:02
Speaker 1: Take a listen to our cut eleven. This is CBS
39:05
Speaker 1: George McDonald. Police investigators say every lead in the case
39:09
Speaker 1: so far has led to a dead end, but the
39:12
Speaker 1: case remains open and the investigation ongoing. And there's I
39:16
Speaker 1: always hope, you know, if you don't have a body,
39:19
Speaker 1: I'm consuming that the place is still alive and we're
39:22
Speaker 1: hoping and praying that we can bring them back safely.
39:25
Speaker 1: Even though the two years is here and we haven't
39:28
Speaker 1: seen or heard of anything, there's still a hope. We
39:30
Speaker 1: know somebody out there knows something. I cannot imagine what
39:35
Speaker 1: this mother has lived through during the years her daughter
39:39
Speaker 1: has just vanished and still remains missing. If you know
39:45
Speaker 1: or think you know anything about the disappearance of this
39:49
Speaker 1: young girl, Terasha Benjamin. Please dial one eight sixty six
39:54
Speaker 1: four four Crime One eight six six four four two
40:00
Speaker 1: two seven four six three Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off,
40:06
Speaker 1: goodbye friend,