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Disappearance of Michaela Garecht · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Ever heard of Mikaela Garrick. It's a case that's always
• 0:03
  stuck with me, a Bay Area mystery that's lingered for decades.
• 0:07
  What makes a case go cold like that? What is
• 0:09
  it about Mikaela's story that's so captivating?
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: It's strange, isn't it? Almost like a recipe? Take an
• 0:15
  ordinary day, a quick trip to the store for snacks,
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  something we've all done a million times. For nine year
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  old Mikayla and her friend Katrina back in eighty eight,
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  that ordinary day was the start of a nightmare.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: November nineteenth, nineteen eighty eight, feels like a lifetime ago.
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  Just kids riding their scooters to the Rainbow Market, just
• 0:32
  a hop, skip and a jump from home, that every
• 0:35
  day setting. It really gets to you, doesn't it.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: And then in a flash, everything changes. They'd gone inside
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  grab their snacks and as they were coming out, that's
• 0:43
  when it all went wrong.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Makes you think twice about those little errands, you know,
• 0:47
  when you read about it, Especially Katrina's account, it paints
• 0:50
  a really vivid picture of that morning.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, those details are seared into her memory. They
• 0:56
  realized they'd left their scooters outside and spotted one in
• 0:59
  the parking lot. Mikayla being a kid, she dashed ahead
• 1:03
  and out of nowhere, this guy appears from a parked car,
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  just grabs Mikayla arm around her waist, forces her into
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  the car while she's screaming for hell. Can you imagine
• 1:13
  witnessing that and carrying it with you all these years.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: It's just heartbreaking, and the fact that it happened in
• 1:18
  broad daylight makes it even creepier. Then there's the description
• 1:22
  of the abductor, a white male looked to be in
• 1:24
  his twenties, but with one really distinct feature his face.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: That detail etched in Katrina's mind. It became central to
• 1:31
  the whole investigation. Severe acne or maybe pockmarks. It's the
• 1:36
  kind of feature you don't forget, the kind that could
• 1:39
  be a.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Crucial clue, like trying to assemble a puzzle but with
• 1:42
  only a few pieces. The police response, though it must
• 1:45
  have been enormous.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: All hands on deck, full scale search, helicopters, airplanes, the works.
• 1:50
  They even had the FBI involved. Imagine the entire community,
• 1:54
  everyone on edge, desperately hoping for Michaela's safe return.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: It was a national story in no time. You know,
• 1:59
  even Joe Montana, the quarterback for the forty nine ers,
• 2:02
  made a public plea from Mikaela's safe return, talk about
• 2:05
  using your platform for good.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, for someone like him to get involved, it shows
• 2:09
  you the impact this case had on everyone. You can
• 2:11
  practically hear the hope, the desperation in his voice. But
• 2:15
  along with that hope came a flood of tips, thousands
• 2:18
  of them, each one a possible lead but also a
• 2:21
  potential dead end.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: It's a double edged sword, isn't it, The thought that
• 2:25
  someone might know something, but then having all those leads
• 2:27
  turn out to be nothing. The source material even mentioned
• 2:30
  an inmate claiming to know where Michaela was buried. Imagine
• 2:33
  getting your hopes up like that, only to find out
• 2:35
  it was all a lie.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Those kinds of false leads, they just add another layer
• 2:40
  of tragedy. It's a stark reminder of how fragile hope
• 2:43
  can be in these situations.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: And the years go by still no answers. It's like
• 2:48
  the case took on a life of its own. It
• 2:50
  wasn't just about finding Mikayla anymore. It was about the unknown,
• 2:53
  the idea that someone out there knew something. And then
• 2:57
  there's the possibility of other missing children. Material touches on
• 3:01
  that other cases in the Bay Area pretty unsettling to
• 3:04
  think about.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: It's true what they say, The simplest answer is usually
• 3:07
  the right one, But then you have cases like this,
• 3:10
  the possibility of connections just adds another layer of complexity.
• 3:14
  Tim Bidner, for instance, he kept popping up in these investigations.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: That's what's so strange about him. It's like he inserted
• 3:20
  himself into these investigations. The source material talks about how
• 3:23
  he got involved with the case of another missing child,
• 3:26
  Amber Schwartz, just months before Mikaeleab vanished. Because me chills
• 3:29
  thinking about it.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: You know, that kind of behavior always raises red flags.
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  Why insert yourself into these situations unless you have something
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  to hide? Even with the suspicions, even with him being
• 3:39
  on a radar for Michaela's case, there just wasn't enough
• 3:42
  to tie him to it, definitively.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: So frustrating. And then you have Philip Garrido JC Dugard's
• 3:49
  case reappearing after all those years two thousand and nine, right,
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  that really shook people up.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: It did with that case back in the spotlight, everyone
• 3:58
  was looking for connections for answers. It was only natural
• 4:01
  for investigators to look at Gerrito and Mikhaela's disappearance, both
• 4:05
  girls taken in broad daylight, witnesses present. You can see
• 4:07
  why people started to hope, even if it was a
• 4:09
  long shot.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: The source material points out the similarities, right, the descriptions
• 4:13
  of the abductors, the vehicles they were driving, and geographically
• 4:16
  it all kind of lined up. But was there anything
• 4:18
  solid connecting Gerrito to Mikaela.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately no. They looked into every possible angle, chased down
• 4:25
  every lead, but it just didn't pan out. It's a
• 4:28
  harsh reminder that even when it seems like there might
• 4:30
  be a break, sometimes the answers just aren't there.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Like trying to catch smoke, and just when you think
• 4:37
  it can't get any weirder, the source material brings up
• 4:39
  another possible connection. Wesley Shermantine and Lauren Hersog, the speed
• 4:44
  Freak killers. What a horrifying turn of events.
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  Speaker 2: For those who don't know, these two were convicted of
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  multiple murders in Northern California, absolutely horrific crimes. And here's
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  where it gets really eerie. Shermantine himself actually pointed out
• 4:57
  a resemblance between his partner Hersog and that composite sketch
• 5:00
  of Michaela's abductor. He even went as far as leading
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  investigators to a well where he claimed they had disposed
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  of some of their victims.
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  Speaker 1: Can you imagine being on that excavation team, so much pressure,
• 5:12
  trying to balance the hope of finding something with the
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  dread of what you might uncover. So did they ever
• 5:18
  actually find anything linking them to Michaela's disappearance.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: They did find bone fragments in that well, but after
• 5:25
  DNA testing, they determined they weren't a match to Mikayla.
• 5:28
  It was a huge disappointment for everyone, especially after letting
• 5:32
  themselves believe there might finally be a resolution. But it
• 5:35
  doesn't end there.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: There's more. You're killing me. What else happened? So?
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  Speaker 2: Get this? There was another well also connected to the
• 5:43
  speed Freak killers, and in this well they found a
• 5:45
  pair of Mary Jane's shoes really similar to the ones
• 5:48
  MICHAELA was wearing that day.
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  Speaker 1: No way, okay, now that's just creepy. What happened to
• 5:52
  the shoes? Did they ever connect them back to Michaela?
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  Speaker 2: That's the big question, isn't it? The detective who was
• 5:58
  told about them, he pushed for more investment, mitigation, but
• 6:01
  the source material doesn't really say what came of it.
• 6:04
  As far as we know, they were never definitively linked
• 6:07
  to Mikayla.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: It's like the case is cursed. Every time it seems
• 6:10
  like there might be a break, it leads to another
• 6:13
  dead end. Really makes you think about how even with
• 6:16
  all the technology and forensics, sometimes it's just not enough.
• 6:21
  Cases go cold, questions go unanswered.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it really highlights the limitations we sometimes face. But
• 6:27
  even with those unanswered questions about the shoes, the other leads.
• 6:31
  There was a huge development in twenty twenty, David Mish
• 6:34
  was arrested.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: David Mish, I've never even heard that name in connection
• 6:38
  with Mikayla's case. Who is he?
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: So Mish was already in prison, completely different murder, and
• 6:42
  then he's officially linked to Mikayla's disappearance.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Wow, talk about a twist after all this time. What
• 6:49
  led them to him?
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Fingerprints? Remember that fingerprint on Mikayla's scooter. Turns out, all
• 6:54
  those years later they got a match.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: David Mish, Are you serious? That's incredible? After three decades,
• 7:02
  one fingerprint changes everything. Talk about the importance of preserving evidence.
• 7:06
  What about mish Did you ever say anything about Michaela.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: Well, that's where it gets even more complicated. He was
• 7:12
  charged officially with Michaela's abduction and murder, but the source
• 7:16
  material also mentions charges for other murders all around the
• 7:19
  same time.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: So you're saying there might have been a serial predator
• 7:22
  operating in the Bay Area back then. That's terrifying, but
• 7:25
  it would explain why Michaela's story resonated with so many
• 7:27
  people for so long, that fear, it's something we all share.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: You're right, and it's interesting. The source material actually points
• 7:33
  out that Mikaela's case was one of the very first
• 7:36
  to be featured on America's Most Wanted. That was a
• 7:38
  huge deal back then, and it didn't stop there Unsolved Mysteries, Dateline.
• 7:43
  They all kept her story alive, even in the face
• 7:46
  of something so awful that hope, that pursuit of justice.
• 7:50
  It never really fades, does it.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: It's a powerful thing. The source material talks about how
• 7:55
  they still have these annual commemorations at the spot where
• 7:58
  Michaela was taken, ribbons tied to the tree. People sharing stories.
• 8:02
  Her mother even has a blog. Just goes to show you,
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  even with so much uncertainty, the human spirit is incredible.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: It reminds us that these aren't just stories. These are
• 8:09
  real lives, real families dealing with unimaginable loss, and sometimes
• 8:14
  the most important thing we can do is remember, keep
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  their stories alive, keep asking those questions. No matter how
• 8:20
  long it takes.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: It makes you wonder, doesn't it. Mikaela's case, all the
• 8:24
  twists and turns, the dead ends, it's a reminder that
• 8:27
  sometimes getting answers takes a lot of time, a lot
• 8:30
  of dedication, but no matter what, we can't give up hope.