Latest / Beyond The Horizon / Mega Edition: What Happened To Layla Santanello? (10/2/26)

Transcript

Mega Edition: What Happened To Layla Santanello? (10/2/26) · Beyond The Horizon

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome back to the program. In
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: today's episode, we're going to talk about a missing person
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: and her name is Layla Santanello. She's been missing now
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: for five months or so and her mother was receiving
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: these crazy messages on Cash App. Well, those messages turned
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: out to be from some degenerate friend of Layla's who
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: was looking to profit off of what happened. Meanwhile, there's
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: been no sign of Layla, real signs anyway, since. Today's
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: article is from The U.S. Sun and the headline, Sick Scam,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Mom of Missing. Layla Santanello tells of weird cash app
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: requests spelling out let me go after her daughter disappeared.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: This article was authored by Luke Kenton. The mother of
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: a woman who has been missing for almost five months
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: received a series of disturbing cash app requests from her
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: daughter's account in the aftermath of her disappearance, warning her
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: to pay up or risk finding her in pieces. Lea Santanello, 21,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: has been missing from her hometown in Kingsport, Tennessee since
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: June 27th. She was last seen at an ice cream
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: shop on North Eastman Road barefoot and in an apparent
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: state of distress. Layla asked to borrow the phone of
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: one of the workers inside of the eatery. She then left,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: telling them she was going across the street to a
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: five below to buy some shoes, but never made it
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: to the store. So there's a lot to unpack right
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: there from the jump. What sort of distress was Layla in?
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: What was going on? Where were her shoes? Who was
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: she calling on the phone? All of that stuff. Where
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: she headed next remains a total mystery. Layla's mom, Jennifer Santanello,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: told the U.S. Sun she has spent the last five
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: months meticulously tracing her daughter's final steps in search of answers.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Three days before she was reported missing, Jennifer received a
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: message from Layla's boyfriend via Layla's Facebook account asking if
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: she was in jail or in the hospital because he
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: didn't know where she was. Messages viewed by the U.S.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Sun show. Hmm. Boyfriend, huh? Not knowing where she is?
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Now look, You know me, I don't jump to conclusions,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: but he has to be looked at. Whoever the boyfriend is,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: a good, hard, robust look must be taken. But the
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: investigators can't have tunnel vision, and at this stage, they
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: have to keep all options on the table. Later that
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: same night, Layla messaged her mom from the same account,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: telling her, I'm fine, Mom. I've been with a friend.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: I don't have a phone to text or call. I'm
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: using someone else's. Okay, I love you, replied Jennifer, to
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: which Layla responded, in what would prove to be her
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: final message, I love you so much more. Man, I
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: can't even imagine. And the sad truth is, how many
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Laylas are out there? How many women, young girls, end
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: up with a drug problem, or end up with some scumbag,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: and before you know it, they're in all kinds of trouble.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: It's almost like the story should just be on repeat.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Layla and her boyfriend, according to Jennifer, had a falling
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: out days prior, and Layla had been staying with friends
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: for a few nights before checking into the AmeriCorp Motel
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: along American Way on June 25th. But by the time
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: she made it to the hotel, she looked disheveled and
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: appeared paranoid as if she was trying to hide in
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: the shadows. Witnesses have told Jennifer, so I don't want
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: to speculate too much, but it sounds like meth-induced psychosis.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: And when people are too long gone on the meth
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: or they got some good strong stuff and they're on
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: a bender, this psychosis can start to kick in. And
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: you think people are following you. You get all kinds
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: of paranoid. You're hiding in the shadows, whatever it is.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: So obviously, I don't have a toxicology report. I don't
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: know if she was on drugs. But that is certainly
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: one of the symptoms that's exhibited when you're suffering from
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: a psychotic break due to methamphetamine. On June 26th, other
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: guests at the motel reported seeing Jennifer going door to
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: door wearing a white tank top, black leggings, and no shoes. Again,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: she appeared to be in a state of distress, but
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: declined help from numerous strangers who asked if she wanted
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: to borrow a phone or if she needed a ride home. Well,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: that's a good thing to hear. I mean, imagine some
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: girl shows up on your doorstep in a state such
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: as this. You'd want to do everything you possibly could
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: to help them, right? But sometimes... People don't want that help.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: And again, that's what leads me to believe that there
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: was some kind of intoxicant involved, drugs or whatever. There
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: was some kind of commotion happening in another part of
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: the hotel, and the people that were outside that night
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: saw her just kind of freak out and take off
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: across the parking lot into the woods behind the motel,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Jennifer said. She apparently stayed in those woods until morning.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: When she got up, She was seen coming across a
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: field next to a warehouse where one man said it
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: looked like she was trying to find something in the grass.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: She asked someone for a cigarette, but they didn't smoke.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: And then she took off in the direction of the
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Kingsport Greenbelt Trail. And this is the part that really
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: gets me. So if anyone saw her that morning, please
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: come forward. Around noon, an employee said, at the Marble
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Slab Ice Cream Store, found her on the back patio,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: sitting under an umbrella at one of the tables. She
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: looked disheveled, distressed, and distraught, so he gave her ice cream,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: and they chatted for a bit. She told her she
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: was going to go to Five Below to get some shoes,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: but she never made it. Pretty baffling, right? What the
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: hell could have happened to her from the time she
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: left the ice cream shop to go to Five Below?
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Another question eating Jennifer up, aside from where her daughter
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: could be now, is what was she so seemingly afraid
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: of before she went missing? Jennifer added, She hasn't ever
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: been afraid of anything. I've never seen her in the
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: state that she's been described as being in. She was
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: never panicky. She never met a stranger. And the idea
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: that she may have slept in a field that night
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: just breaks my heart. I ask myself all the time,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: why did she not pick up the phone and call?
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I know we didn't always agree on everything in life,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: but I'd never not show up when she needed me.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: So again, look, somebody who doesn't have any history of
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: a mental break, and then something like this goes down,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: I have to think that some kind of narcotic substance
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: was certainly involved. Threatening cash app requests. After leaving the
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: ice cream shop, Layla's trail goes completely cold. Jennifer and
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Layla's father reported her missing. in the early hours of
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: June 27th. They've had few updates from the investigators since.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Roughly two weeks after she disappeared, Jennifer received a glimmer
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: of hope in the form of a cash app request
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: from Layla's account. She had spent days searching around Kingsport,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: handing out flyers and visiting the last places that her
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: daughter had been spotted in search of her own leads
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: when a request for $ 100 flashed up on her phone.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: And the subject line for the transaction was the string
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: of letters TWIMG. Several requests were made with the same
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: subject line over a period of several minutes, and so
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Jennifer sent her daughter's account $ 1 with a message asking
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: if she was okay. And the person on the other
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: end of that cash app making those messages and sending
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: that shit, I hope they rot in hell. As a
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: back and forth of transactions ensued, Jennifer said she believed
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: the acronym in the subject line of the first request
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: meant they won't let me go. And so she believed
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: her daughter was being held hostage. She contacted the police
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: and began asking the requester of the funds more specific
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: questions to verify it was Layla sending the messages. At
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: some point, I started asking, what's your brother's name? What's
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: your baby brother's birthday? And other specific questions like that.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: that only she would know, but this person was just
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: ignoring them, recounted Jennifer, and I thought, no, something is
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: wrong here. But then, periodically, throughout the next several weeks,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: they kept coming in, and then the requests got more
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: and more threatening. One such threatening request was made for $ 95,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: with the caption, for 15 minutes or you'll find her
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: in pieces. They were very detailed about the things that
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: they were going to do if we didn't send the money,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: said Jennifer, But that's the sad thing. Over all those conversations,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: because you had to send $ 1 to send a sentence,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: we probably did send the money they were asking for.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Authorities were eventually able to access the account and determine
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: who was sending the messages. According to Jennifer, the Cash
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: App messages had all been part of an elaborate hoax
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: concocted by one of Layla's so-called friends who attempted to
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: profit from the tragic situation by impersonating her. Imagine being
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: that low, that kind of low-rent scumbag. I mean, I
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: can't think of many more things that are as disgusting
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: as playing with somebody whose kid is missing and acting
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: like you're a kidnapper and you have that kid in
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: your possession and you're going to hurt them if you
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: don't get money. The fuck is wrong with you? I
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: can't say who it was, but it added torture and
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: trauma on top of an already terrible situation, Jennifer confessed.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: As of right now, there's no reason to believe the
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: person who did it had anything to do with her disappearance.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Jennifer said the culprit's home was searched and there were
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: no signs that Layla had been there recently. The individual
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: was not one of the friends she'd been staying with
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: in the days before she vanished. She called it a
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: crime of opportunity and said the person responsible had allowed
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Layla to log into her account weeks earlier but never
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: log back out. The Kingsport Police Department has been contacted
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: to verify Jennifer's version of events. The hoax was the
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: only glimmer of hope Jennifer has had in the last
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: four and a half months that her daughter may still
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: be alive. Insisting she's now living every parent's worst nightmare,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Jennifer has admitted that her optimism of finding Layla alive
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: is waning with each passing day. We fear our kids
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: disappearing or losing them, but you just never believe that
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: it's going to happen to you, she said. You see
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: it happen on the news, and you empathize, and you
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: can try to think about how that might feel, but
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: unless it's happened to you, you just can't. It's the
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: not knowing, the daily trauma. It's like an open wound
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: all of the time. I can't even think about what
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: it must be like. Sitting there all day, every day,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: wondering where your loved one is, not knowing, going crazy,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: no answers, no help, nowhere to turn. I can't even imagine.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: There's no closure. There's no answers. You have no idea
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: if she's alive or not. If you have no idea
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: whether she's sick or cold or tired. It's the worst
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: feeling in the world. As she patiently waits by the
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: phone for updates, Jennifer says she routinely tries to prevent
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: her mind from going to the darker places and exploring
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: less favorable outcomes as she otherwise clings to what she
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: calls a slither of hope that Layla's still out there somewhere.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: She described the feeling as if she's living in a bubble,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: disconnected from the outside world, as she remains consumed by
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: the whys and the what-ifs leading up to June 27th.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: It has to be enough to drive a parent mad.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: The Cash App incident is an indication that her daughter
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: perhaps wasn't keeping the best company in the months before
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: she vanished, Jennifer said. During those months, she also noticed
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: a change in Layla's behavior, describing her as more withdrawn
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: and isolated. Again, I don't want to speculate. I don't
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: know Layla. I don't know her circumstances, but it sounds
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: to me like Layla had a drug problem. And unfortunately,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: when you're addicted to drugs, that leads you to hanging
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: out with unsavory folks, and it certainly leads you to
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: doing things that you would never do if you weren't
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: on those drugs. It's Jennifer's opinion that Layla, who was
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: inseparable from her boyfriend, had shunned many of her own
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: friends in favor of his. On the day of her disappearance,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Jennifer fears that Layla may have been abducted by sex
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: traffickers or suffered some kind of psychotic break, perhaps even both.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Layla ran away once as a teenager for a few
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: days during a typical rebellious phase, but Jennifer doesn't believe
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: her daughter left of her own accord on June 27th.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: If she believes she was in any danger, Jennifer says
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: she still can't understand why Layla didn't call home for help,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: suggesting she may not have been of sound mind at
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: the time. She knows my phone number by heart, and
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: she's known it for a long time, said a tearful Jennifer.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: It blows my mind that she didn't call me. I
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: sometimes wonder if she had some kind of psychotic break,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: or if she was struggling with something mental health-wise. My
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: father passed away two years ago, and my dad was
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: a very stable figure in their life. They were incredibly close.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Losing him broke her, and she had just had a
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: baby at the time, Nova Grace, who was only three
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: months old then. And she was already struggling with postpartum depression.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: She's right around the age that if something was affecting her,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: a deep mental illness, that would start to show through now.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: And that's where my mind goes when I think about
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: how people described how she was acting. Very possible. Look, again,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: I don't know her. I've never met her. I don't
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: know what her mental state was. But if she has
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: been avoiding all of her own friends, hanging out with
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: this dude, hanging out with all of his friends, then
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: she has this mental break, if we look at it logically,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: it was probably brought on by narcotics use with this
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: scumbag boyfriend of hers. Serial killer fears. Just over a
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: month ago, a second woman, 19, Holly Lynn Snap, vanished
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: in mysterious circumstances in Kingsport, just two and a half
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: miles from where Layla was last seen. Jennifer and Holly
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Lynn's mom, Heather Snapp, believe the two disappearance may be linked.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Both of the women are under five feet tall, of
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: a similar build, and appear childlike at first glance, said Jennifer.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Layla and Holly Lynn were both seemingly vulnerable at the
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: time of their disappearances. Heather told local NBC affiliate WCYB5
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: that Holly Lynn is very sweet and trusting, and especially
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: concerned because her daughter was functioned significantly lower than her
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: actual age, like that of 9 or 10 years old.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: Further investigation found that Layla and Holly Lynn swam in
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: the same social circles and knew many of the same people. Well,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: that's interesting. Certainly something that has to be looked at.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Heather and Jennifer have both said they believe the two
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: girls may have been trafficked. Jennifer also wonders whether there
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: could be an even more sinister link between the two cases.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: She told the U.S. Sun, a lot of things pop
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: into my head. I wonder about trafficking, but also, aren't
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: serial killers the type to pick up a specific height
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: and weight and that kind of thing? These are the
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: thoughts that hadn't fully occurred to me until we had
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: another girl go missing. There could be a serious problem
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: going around here, and there are a lot of theories
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: that roll through my head over and over every day.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: It's a scary world we live in these days. Anything
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: is possible. Yeah, you can't rule anything out, right? Not
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: until there's an investigation. You have to look at what happened,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: look at all the evidence, and work from there. Sweet girl,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: we miss you. On November 10th, Jennifer and Heather held
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: a vigil for their two missing children in the center
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: of town. Jennifer said she had been moved by the
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: outpouring of public support, but she is desperately trying to
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: raise awareness about Layla's disappearance further afield, conceding, she could
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: be anywhere in the country by now, this many months
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: down the line. To aid her search, she has set
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: up a GoFundMe to raise additional funds to pay for
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: private investigators to work the case and increase reward money
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: for any information that leads her to Layla. Currently, she
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: is offering a $ 3, 000 reward, but hopes to increase that
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: amount by the end of the year. If you know something,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: please say something. Urge Jennifer, Speaking directly to Layla, she added,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: That's heartbreaking. And hopefully, People pick up on this story
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: and other folks start talking about it because until this morning,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: I had no idea about this story. The Kingsport Police
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: Department has not yet responded to a request for comment
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: seeking further information about the case. Publicly, no suspects or
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: persons of interest have been named and Layla's disappearance is
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: still being investigated as a missing persons case. Holly Lynn, meanwhile,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: was reported missing. on October 15th, but her family hasn't
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: heard from her since October 5th. I won't rest. Jennifer
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: said that she won't rest until her daughter is found.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: My heart won't let me stop. Layla didn't have any
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: quit in her. When she had a goal in mind
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: and she wanted something, she was going to get it.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: And when it comes to her and fighting for her,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to stop either. I've never backed down
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: from a fight when it came to making sure she
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: was okay, so this isn't going to be the time
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: that I start. I'm going to keep going until it
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: breaks me or until we find her. Anyone with information
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: that may help locate the two women is asked to
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: contact the Kingsport Police Department at 423-343-9780. Once again, that
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: number 423-343-9780. All right, so we're definitely going to keep
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: an eye on this one, and we're going to continue
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: to talk about this story whenever there's information to talk about.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: And hopefully, a little bit of publicity for the case
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: will lead to a break and bring some sort of
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: information to these families. As for me, that's going to
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: do it for this one. All of the information that
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: goes with this episode can be found in the description box.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome back to the program. Yesterday,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: we had an update on Leila Santanello, and her ex-boyfriend
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: who had been arrested for allegedly trying to extort her
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: family via cash app. And while the authorities and Layla's
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: family say they don't think he was involved, I told
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: you yesterday that I thought that there was something else
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: going on here and something's still bubbling. under the surface.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: So let's dive right back into the story and let's
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: see what sort of update we have today. This article
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: was published by the US Sun and the headline, Police
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Remain Tight-Lipped. Leila Santanello Cops Tell Family They Know What
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Happened As She Remains Missing after her boyfriend's cash app arrest. Now,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: does that sound to you like Mr. Thompson here had
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: nothing to do with what happened or doesn't know what happened?
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: I told you yesterday that it seemed to me that
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: there's a lot more going on here with this man. Now,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying that he killed her, but my guess
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: is he knows a little bit more than he was
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: letting on. And the fact that he was willing to
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: try and extort her family via cash app, tells me
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: everything I need to know about the character, or lack thereof,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: that this scumbag possesses. This article was authored by Luke Kenton.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Police investigating the disappearance of Layla Santanello told her family
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: they're confident that they know what happened to the missing
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: mom and that it's a matter of time before the
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: case is solved, her stepmom claims. Well, that'll be awesome. Now, obviously,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: we hope that there is resolution and Layla is returned
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: home unharmed. But usually when we have a story like this,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: we know that that's not the case. So if that's
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: not the case and she's not returned home, then I
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: hope that justice is meted out to whoever is responsible
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: and hopefully that justice comes soon. The promising revelation comes
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: just hours after Layla's boyfriend, Michael David Thompson, was arrested
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: for allegedly impersonating Layla on Cash App to extort her
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: family for money two weeks after she vanished. Now, what
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: sort of of miserable, prick-ass scumbag is sitting around thinking
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: it's a good idea to extort the family of his ex-girlfriend, ever.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Never mind the fact that she's missing, and now you're
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: trying to compound their pain by saying that you have
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: her hostage, and if they pay up, you can give
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: her back, and none of that, according to the authorities,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: is true? Or did he know something more about where
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: she was, And that's why he was extorting them, because
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: he knew her location, even if maybe he wasn't involved
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: in her actual abduction. Now, of course, just speculation. I
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: have no idea. The police, like they're saying here in
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: the article, have been tight-lipped. But something is bubbling under
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: the surface. And it's not just the Cash App extortion,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: in my opinion. Layla, 21, has been missing since June 27, 2023,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: from her hometown of Kingsport, Tennessee, in the northeast corner
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: of the state, near the Virginia border. On Monday night,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: her live-in boyfriend, Michael Thompson, also 21, was arrested in
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: connection with a series of fraudulent Cash App requests sent
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: from Layla's account last summer. So right away, when somebody
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: starts doing that kind of nonsense, they have to be
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: elevated into the realm of suspect. What are you doing?
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Why are you using this Cash App app to try
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: and get a couple of bucks from her family? And furthermore,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: where is she? I hope that the interrogators have him
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: in a room right now and they're giving him the
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: business because this dude definitely knows a lot more than
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: he's letting on. Now, I don't know one way or
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: the other the extent of that knowledge, but it's relatively
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: apparent that the police are on his scent here and
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: they have a lot more than they're willing to divulge
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: to the public as of now. Cops say that Thompson
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: posed as Layla on the app and contacted several of
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: her family members and friends after she was reported missing
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: in a sick attempt to extort them for cash in
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: a time of crisis. Thompson has been charged with identity theft,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: theft under $ 1, 000, illegal possession, a fraudulent use of a
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: credit or debit card, and extortion. So she left her
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: debit card at the house? See, none of this adds
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: up to me. And when we're talking about who might
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: be responsible here, Well, we all know the statistics about
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: who usually is the person responsible. Now, does that mean
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: that's always the case? Of course not. And to be clear,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: the authorities are saying that this man has nothing to
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: do with it. But I still have my doubts. And
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: why do I have my doubts? Well, there's no rule
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: that says the police have to tell us the truth.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: There's no rule that says the police have to tell
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: us everything they know. However, investigators stressed he is not
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: currently currently considered a suspect in connection with with Layla's disappearance.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: So as of right now, that doesn't mean that that
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: won't change, because we know that they're still in the
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: evidence-gathering stage here, so there is going to be a
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: lot more that comes down later on. Layla's stepmom, Brittany Zeitler,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: said she knew Thompson's arrest was coming for some time.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: She also claims to have received information from police at
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: the end of last year that they believe they know
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: what happened to Layla, given her quiet cause for optimism.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: that answers will soon be forthcoming to explain her disappearance.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Police are working hard to resolve this matter, she said. Well,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: that's a good thing. Resolution, I'm sure, will be welcomed
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: by the family. It's really hard for me to wrap
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: my mind around being the family members here. You have
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: a missing loved one. You know something probably went wrong.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: And then you have this man trying to extort you
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: on this cash app. What would you think? I know
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: what I would be thinking. And all those thoughts would
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: be all bad for Mr. Thompson. They've been giving us
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: very limited information, but I received a call in December
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: basically saying, Merry Christmas. We know what happened. We know
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: who did it. We know roughly where she's at, but
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: we can't tell you anything yet. So they make that
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: phone call in December. Then Mr. Thompson gets picked up.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: Nobody else gets picked up. So if they know what happened,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: why would it be Mr. Thompson getting picked up if
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: they didn't have a bit of suspicion? Again, speculation on
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: my part, but putting the pieces together, I mean, you
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: don't have to be Inspector Gadget here. They said they
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: have an idea of where she might be at, but again,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: this was in December, and we're now in March, so
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: clearly there's still a lot missing from the puzzle pieces
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: in this case. It's just really hard when you're not
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: getting all the information. I can't imagine, again, I just
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: can't imagine. All these stories that we talk about, all
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: these people who were murdered or kidnapped or just go missing...
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: And then the trail of tears and the sadness that's
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: left in the wake. It's just horrible. How many friends,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: how many family members or just people that these folks
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: had run into at some point in their lives are
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: now suffering because of their absence. And then you add
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: to the tragedy of all of it of not knowing.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: And I think that might be the hardest part. Because
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: you're sitting there and you're wondering on a daily basis
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: where your loved one is, if they're being cared for,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: do they have all the right necessities to get through life?
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: And I'm sure that these are all the thoughts and
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: many more that I can't even begin to fathom are
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: going through the minds of Layla's family. The Kingsport Police
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Department has been contacted for comment. Citing a mother's instinct,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Zeitler said she believes that her daughter, who struggled with addiction,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: may have overdosed in the company of someone else who
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: either failed to report her death or disposed of her remains.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: That is certainly a possibility. How many times have we
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: talked about that here? In fact, I've told you the
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: story multiple times now, that the same thing happened to
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: my uncle. My uncle was partying with his boys, or
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: I guess you want to call them his boys, and
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: my uncle overdosed, and they left him in an elevator
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: like an animal to die, when they could have called
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: the police. But junkies don't do that shit, right? They panic, and, well,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: we know the results. so that's certainly a possibility with
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: Layla as well. But the fact is, we just don't
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: know yet. However, until Layla is found, she said, she
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: and other relatives will continue to cling to the hope
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: she may one day walk back through the door, despite
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: receiving no signs of life, from the mom of one
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: in the last eight months. Zeitler said, She has no
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: reason to believe that Thompson had any involvement in Layla's disappearance. Well,
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: if we're talking about that overdose theory, then it's very
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: possible that he was involved in that. And the more
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: I read here, and the more information we get, the
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: more I'm starting to feel like that might be the
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: right track. She overdosed, and then from there, whoever was
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: with her, well, they panicked. However, she suspects he may
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: know more than he has previously let on. And if
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: that's indeed the case, she urged him to share what
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: he knows with investigators immediately. Before he was arrested, he
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: came to me saying he had information on Layla, and
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: Michael asked if I could set something up with law enforcement,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: which I did, but he decided not to show, and
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: the deal was off the table, shared Zeitler. So why
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: didn't he show? What's he hiding? Again, look, I'm not
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: saying this man murdered her, right? But I am saying
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: that I think there's more to the story. and I
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: think that the linchpin here is Mr. Thompson. It was
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: a relief to hear he was arrested finally because my
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: goal in this, with him now in custody, is to
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: ensure he doesn't take any secrets to the grave if
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: he does know anything. He might not be responsible, but
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: he may know something, but we won't know until police
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: speak to him and he gets clean and he gets
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: his head straight. Does he know something? Zeitler has been
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: in frequent contact with Thompson over the last eight months.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: It was Thompson who first raised the alarm that something
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: may have happened to Layla, but he never contacted police
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: himself to file a missing person's report. Again, all shady.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: Everything about this man's behavior is shady as fuck. Zeitler
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: said Thompson, who has struggled with addiction, has been hit
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: hard by Layla's unexplained absence. She claims he's been on
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: a reckless path over the last few months, indulging in
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: excessing drug use and brushing with death. Maybe he feels
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: guilty for her overdosing and him covering it up. I
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: was honestly fearing that we weren't going to make it
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: this far. I didn't think he was going to make
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: it to the cell. I honestly didn't because he seemed
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: determined to take himself out, she said. He hasn't been well.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: He has been highly affected by this, too. There's been
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: a lot of speculation about him because they were together
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: all the time, he was her boyfriend, and she vanished
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: and suddenly you don't know where she is. But I
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: honestly never suspected Michael to be responsible for Layla's disappearance,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: added Zeitler. He was the first person to report that
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: something was wrong, expressing his concerns. Again, I have my
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: doubts about that. Now I know that, You don't want
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: to think the worst of this dude, probably, right? But
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I do. Now, do I feel that he
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: might know more than what he is saying? He might know, yes.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: Cash app on. It was Zeitler who reported Layla missing
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: on June 27th, 2023, after receiving a series of worried
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: messages from Michael. Layla's biological mom, Jennifer Santanello, told the U.S.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Sun in December that she'd spent the previous five months
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: meticulously tracing and her daughter's final steps in a search
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: for answers. Three days before she was reported missing, Jennifer
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: got a message from Layla's boyfriend via Layla's Facebook account
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: asking if she was in jail or in the hospital
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: because he didn't know where she was. Messages viewed by
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: the U.S. Sun showed. So why didn't he just call
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: the jails or the hospitals himself? Again, nothing about his
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: behavior matches up for me. And you folks know that
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: I'm not the kind of person that's like, oh, well,
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: you know, This dude looks guilty, but there's a lot here.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: And while he might not be guilty of murdering Layla
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: or doing something untowards with her, I think that he
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: knows more than he's letting on. Just like the mom said,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: I think she's on the right path there. And I
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: think that it's a lot more nefarious than even the
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: mom wants to believe. Later that same night, Layla messaged
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: her mom from the same account. I'm fine, mom, she said,
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: following up with. I've been with a friend. I don't
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: have a phone to text or call. I'm using someone else's. Okay,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: I love you, replied Jennifer, to which Layla responded it
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: would be her final message. I love you so much more.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: And that was the final time that her mom heard
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: from her. So now Layla's been missing for all these months,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: and her mom has zero idea where she is. Zeitler
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: reported her missing in the early hours of June 27th.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: The family was provided a glimmer of what would later
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: turn out to be false hope that Layla was still
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: alive roughly two weeks after she was last seen. That
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: hope came in the form of a series of strange
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: cash app requests from Layla's account sent to Zeitler and
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Jennifer asking for money. In the subject line of the request,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: seeking $ 100, the letters TWLMG appeared on the screen. Several
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: requests were made with the same subject line over several minutes,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: and so Jennifer sent her daughter's account $ 1 with a
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: message asking if she was okay. As a back and
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: forth of transactions ensued, Jennifer said she believed the acronym
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: in the subject line of the first request meant, they
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: won't let me go, and so she believed her daughter
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: was being held hostage. She contacted the police and began
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: asking the requester of the funds more specific questions to
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: verify it was Layla sending the messages. At some point,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: I started asking, what's your brother's name? What's your baby
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: brother's birthday? And other specific questions like that, that only
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: she would know, but this person was just ignoring them,
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: recounted Jennifer. And I thought, no, something is wrong here.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: But then periodically throughout the next several weeks, they kept
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: coming in. And then the request got more and more threatening.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: One such threatening request was made for $ 95 with a
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: caption for 15 minutes, or you'll find her in pieces.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: They were very detailed about the things they were going
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: to do if we didn't send the money, said Jennifer.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: And this is all coming from this scumbag that's in
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: jail right now. But that's the sad thing. Over all
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: those conversations, because you had to send $ 1 to send
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: a sentence, we probably did send the money they were
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: asking for. Authorities were eventually able to access the account
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: and determine who was sending the messages. At the time,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: the family declined to name the culprit to the U.S. Sun.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: In the wake of Thompson's arrest for allegedly concocting the
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: sick scheme, Zeitler said she holds no resentment towards him.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: Zeitler said that she was aware Thompson was behind the
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: cash app request for quite some time and had previously
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: confronted him about it. This is a better woman than me.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: I'd have a lot of animosity. And I'll tell you what,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: I'd want to punch this dude directly in the face.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: I brought it to Michael's attention a few times, she said.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: He was in total denial. It was more of like,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: I didn't do it, it wasn't me. I even told him, Michael,
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: I'm not even mad, not even upset, because in all honesty,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: you're a suffering addict right now, and you took advantage
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: of a situation just as any other addict would have.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: But it's messed up. I hope he can utilize this
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: time to get the help he needs, because he definitely
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: needs it. Last year, Zeitler claimed Layla and Thompson had
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: fallen out days before her disappearance because he'd discovered she'd
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: started a new relationship with another man. She left home
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: and stayed with friends for a few nights before checking
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: into the AmeriCorps Hotel in Kingsport on June 25th. On
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: June 26th, other guests at the motel reported seeing Jennifer
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: going door-to-door in an apparent state of distress, but she'd
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: declined help from numerous strangers who offered her assistance. At
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: some stage in the late morning of the 26th, there
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: was another altercation involving Layla and an unknown person. Before
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: that altercation, Layla, according to Zeitler, told a friend, I
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: have to take care of something. Layla was threatened with
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: eviction from the motel because of the commotion. She then
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: walked off into a nearby woods around midday. There is
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: a warehouse near the woods, and there were approximately five
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: employees that were working that said they could see Layla
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: sticking out from a mile away, said Zeitler. Based on
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: her paranoia, her panicking, and her being freaked out, it
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: could be that she was running from whoever she spoke
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: with at the motel. The last known sighting of Layla,
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: according to Zeitler, occurred outside a storage facility a short
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: distance from the AmeriCorps. Where she went next remains a mystery.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: Despite there being no sightings of Layla since, and no
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: calls or texts from the 21-year-old, Zeitler is clinging to
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: a sliver of hope that her beloved stepdaughter is still alive.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: She's hopeful that answers about what happened to her will
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: soon be forthcoming. I feel like we're getting there. I
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: feel like it's an any day now type of thing,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: Zeitler said, and we're going to keep going ahead until
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Layla is found one way or the other. It's been
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: eight months, and there haven't been any sightings, phone calls,
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: or anything. And so the only thing we can really
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: believe is that she's not here anymore. I'm told there's
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: a 5% chance she may walk through the door, but
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: that isn't good odds, not in my eyes. But until
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: we have evidence she's no longer here, we're going to
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: hold on to that 5% of hope until we know
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: for sure, until her body is recovered in some way.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: We won't believe she's not here until then. Just completely horrible, man.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: All of her kids, no mom now. All of her
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: family members have to go on with their new normal. Meanwhile, Mr.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: Thompson thinks it's a good idea to send these kinds
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: of messages. So in my opinion, Mr. Thompson is even
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: if he has nothing to do with what happened to Layla,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: should be in jail for those messages. Because you have
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: to be one sick degenerate to even think about sending
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: a message like that. Never mind the fact that this
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: lady is already suffering because her daughter is gone, and
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: it's your ex-girlfriend, and you're going to send messages such
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: as this? Yeah, enjoy your time in jail, scumbag. As
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: far as the rest of the story, obviously, we're going
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: to keep following along. And when we have more to
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: add to the catalog, we will certainly do so. All
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: of the information that goes with this episode can be
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: found in the description box. What's up everyone and welcome
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: back to the program. Recently we were talking about a
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: missing woman named Layla Santanello and the strange circumstances surrounding
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: her disappearance. And now we're learning that her boyfriend Michael
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: Thompson has been arrested over the weird-ass requests that were
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: made demanding money from Layla's family. So they arrested him
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: for fraud. And my guess is they think he's guilty
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: of a whole lot more. So let's get to this
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: article from the U.S. Sun and let's get caught up
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: on what's going on with Leila Santanello. Headline, Leila Santanello's boyfriend,
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: Michael Thompson, arrested over eerie requests demanding cash from the
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: family after she vanished. Can you imagine your girlfriend goes
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: missing and you're out here trying to hustle her family
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: for a couple of bucks? That sort of bullshit right
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: there alone should get your ass taken out behind the woodshed.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: Never mind all this other bullshit this dude was up to.
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: This article was authored by Olivia Salamone and Luke Kenton.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: The boyfriend of a missing woman has been arrested over
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: disturbing cash app requests sent to her family after she vanished.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: Michael David Thompson, 21, was booked into jail on Monday,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: more than eight months after Leila Santanello, 21, disappeared. So,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: eight months ago, Layla disappears, and then, finally, they end
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: up arresting this dude. This is what I mean when
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: I say the wheels of justice grind slowly. And the
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: people that are up in arms about what's going on
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: in Moscow, I get it. right? And I have empathy
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: for it because I want that trial to happen sooner
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: rather than later, like everybody else. But we have to
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: deal with reality as it's handed to us, right? And
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: the reality of the situation is justice takes time. And
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: hopefully this is the beginning for Mr. Michael David Thompson.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: and the justice that he has come in his way
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: if he's guilty of doing anything to Layla Santanello. Now,
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: we don't know if that's the case yet. We haven't
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: seen any evidence that points us in that direction. But
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: the police obviously have a bit of an idea what's
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: going on here. And usually when you see this kind
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: of charge, it's a hold'em charge, right? They pick him up,
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: they hold him on a different count, a different charge,
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: and then they move on from there if he's not
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: the suspect for whatever happened to Layla. But my guess
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: is They think that he did something to Layla and
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: that's why all of this is in motion as far
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: as him being taken into custody. Layla was reported missing
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: from her hometown of Kingsport, Tennessee on June 27th, 2023.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: The young mom of one was last seen at an
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: ice cream shop barefoot and in an apparent state of distress.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: So she was over there, no shoes on, running around
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: like she was one of the first people to cross
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: the land bridge and come to America. And she was
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: obviously in a very vulnerable state. And when people are
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: in that kind of vulnerable state and they're jonesing off
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: of drugs or they're having a psychiatric break or whatever,
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: they are the prime sort of target for some sicko. Now,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying that's what happened here because more than likely,
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: whatever went down had to do with her boyfriend. That's
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: my guess. Again, just speculation. I have no evidence to
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: back that up. but usually when you see an arrest
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: like we see here, that's what it means. Layla asked
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: to borrow a phone from a worker at the shop,
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: but she then left, telling them that she was going
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: across the street to a Five Below to buy some shoes.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: The 21-year-old never made it to the store, so from
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: the time she left the ice cream shop to go
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: over to Five Below to get a pair of kicks,
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: something happened to her. Either she ran into some sick, disgusting,
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: demented son of a bitch, or her boyfriend was up
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: to no good. One or the other, in my opinion.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: Layla was dating Thompson at the time, but their relationship
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: was on the rocks, her family told the U.S. Sun. Thompson, meanwhile,
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: was indicted on February 14th for identity theft, theft under $ 1, 000,
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: illegal possession or fraudulent use of a credit or debit card,
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: and extortion as part of the investigation into Layla's disappearance.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: So this dude's out here trying to hustle some money
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: out of her family after Layla goes missing. Hell of
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: a guy, this Michael Thompson, huh? Even if he's not
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: responsible for what happened to Layla, still an absolute scumbag,
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: this mealy-mouthed motherfucker knows that Layla's missing and he's out
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: here trying to make a buck. Cops say that he
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: posed as Layla and sent cash app requests to several
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: of her family members and friends after she was reported missing.
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: He was arrested on Monday and is being held at
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: the Sullivan County Jail on a $ 15, 000 bond. 15 grand, huh? Well,
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: we know this scumbag's not going to be able to
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: come up with that dough, so have fun rotting away
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: in jail and eating those bologna sandwiches. Police stated that
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: there is no evidence that Thompson was involved in Layla's disappearance. Yeah,
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: as of now. Holding on to hope. Layla's stepmother, Brittany Zeitler,
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: spoke to the U.S. Sun on Monday night after Thompson
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: was arrested. She said she knew Thompson was going to
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: be arrested soon and that he'd been running from the cops.
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: So why are you running from the cops for a
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: simple fraud charge? You should go in, get processed, and
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: be done with it. The only time you run is
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: if you have something more to hide. And my guess
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: is this dude has something more to hide. I don't
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: know why, but I just have that feeling. Again, pure speculation.
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: The police themselves are saying that he wasn't involved. So, alright,
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: I'm going to have to go with what the police
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: have to say here, but let's remember... that they don't
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: have to be completely honest with us, right? There's no
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: law in the books that says, well, the police can't
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: tell the public a story as they pursue somebody. They
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: do it all the time. And while I'm not saying
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: that's what's happening here, it's certainly something that has to
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: be kept in mind. I kind of gave him a
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: heads up because he came to me saying he had
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: information on Layla, she told the U.S. Sun, and Michael
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: asked if I could set something up with law enforcement,
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: but he decided not to show, so the deal was
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: off the table. Now, why wouldn't he show? What's he
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: worried about? What's he scared of? Why wouldn't he go
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: and meet the police? I guess he could be worried
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: about the fraud charge here and not wanting to go
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: to jail for that. But if you run and you
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: make them come and chase you, it's going to be
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: so much worse. You're going to get in front of
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: that judge and the judge is going to be like,
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: what are you doing? No, you're not getting any bail.
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: Your bond is going to be set at some crazy
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: ass price that you can't afford. And now you're going
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: to rot in jail. Whereas before, if you would have
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: just showed up, turned yourself in and showed the court
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: that you're not a degenerate, which is probably very difficult
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: for this degenerate, then the court would have been a
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: lot more willing to work with you. But when you
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: run and you try to avoid justice, it's always going
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: to be much worse. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: And sure enough, Michael got picked up on some hefty
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: charges and it was in regards to the cash app.
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: Zeitler said that she was aware Thompson was behind the
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: cash app request for quite some time and had confronted
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: him about it. I brought it to Michael's attention a
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: few times, she said. He was in total denial. It
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: was more of like, I didn't do it. It wasn't me.
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: Though it has been eight months since her stepdaughter was
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: last seen, Zeitler is holding on to hope that she'll
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: be found. And what else are you going to do?
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: Give up all hope and just give up on your
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: loved one ever coming home? Until you have resolution one
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: way or the other. That doesn't seem like the way
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: to go. And so the only thing we can really
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: believe is that she isn't here anymore. And I'm told
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: there's a 5% chance she may walk through the door,
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: but that isn't good odds, not in my eyes. But
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: until we have evidence she is no longer here, we're
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: going to hold on to that 5% of hope until
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: we know for sure, until her body is recovered in
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: some way. We won't believe she's not here until then.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: Like the cops, Zeitler told the U.S. Sun that she
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: does not believe that Thompson is the reason that Layla vanished.
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: I've never suspected Michael to be responsible for Layla's disappearance,
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: she said. Alright, well, the people that know the best
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: here are saying that this man isn't responsible, so we'll
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: just assume that Mr. Thompson isn't involved. But either way,
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: anybody who's trying to benefit from a circumstance such as
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: this and try to make some money off of these
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: family members who are grieving... Boy, you're some kind of scumbag.
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: He was the first to report that something was wrong,
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: expressing his concerns. I can honestly tell you that through
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: the time of this whole thing, I've never gotten the
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: vibe or the feeling that he was responsible in any
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: way for her disappearance. Now do I feel he might
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: know more than what he is saying? He might know, yes. Well,
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: there's no doubt in my mind anyway that this man
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: knows a little something something. Whether he was involved or
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: he wasn't, I don't know. But my spidey sense, if
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: you will, is telling me that there's a little more
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: to this story than we're learning here. The final message
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: from Layla. Layla's mother, Jennifer Santanello, told the U.S. Sun
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: in December that she spent the previous five months meticulously
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: tracing her daughter's final steps in search of answers. Three
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: days before she was reported missing, Jennifer got a message
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: from Layla's boyfriend via Layla's Facebook account asking if she
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: was in jail or in the hospital because he didn't
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: know where she was. Messages viewed by the U.S. Sun showed.
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: Later that same night, Layla messaged her mom from the
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: same account telling her, I'm fine, mom. I've been with
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: a friend. I don't have a phone to text or call.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: I'm using someone else's. Okay, I love you, replied Jennifer,
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: to which Layla responded in what would prove to be
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: her final message. I love you so much more. Imagine
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: that being the last message you ever receive from your daughter.
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: How horrible that must be every night to go to bed,
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: and that's the last time you ever talk to her
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: and you don't know where she is, what happened to her,
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: if she's okay. That has to just be heart-wrenching. Layla's
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: parents reported her missing in the early hours of June 27th.
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: About two weeks after she disappeared, Jennifer received a glimmer
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: of hope in the form of a cash app request
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: from Layla's account. She had spent days searching around Kingsport,
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: handing out flyers, and visiting the last places her daughter
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: had been seen in search of her own leads. All
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: of a sudden, a request for $ 100 flashed on her phone.
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: In the subject line for the transaction was the string
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: of letters TWIMG. Several requests were made with the same
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: subject line over a period of minutes, so Jennifer sent
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: her daughter's account $ 1 and asked if she was okay.
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: A back and forth of transactions ensued and Jennifer said
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: she believed the acronym in the subject line of the
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: first request meant they won't let me go. And so
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: she believed her daughter was being held hostage. Sick requests.
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: She contacted the police and started questioning the Cash App
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: user to try to verify if it was Layla sending
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: those messages. At some point, I started asking, what's your
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: brother's name? What's your baby brother's birthday? And other specific questions.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: like that. That only she would know, but this person
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: was just ignoring them, Jennifer said. And I thought, no,
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: something is wrong here. But then periodically, throughout the next
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: several weeks, they kept coming in, and then the requests
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: got more and more threatening. One such threatening request was
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: made for $ 95 with a note for 15 minutes or
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: you'll find her in pieces. They were very detailed about
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: the things they were going to do if we didn't
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: send the money, said Jennifer. But that's the sad thing.
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: Over all those conversations, because you had to send $ 1
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: to send a sentence, we probably did send the money
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: they were asking for. It added torture and trauma on
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: top of an already terrible situation, Jennifer said. She admitted
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: in December that her optimism of finding Layla alive was
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: waning with each passing day. We fear our kids disappearing
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: or losing them, but you just never believe that it's
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: going to happen to you, she said. And there's no doubt,
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: it's the biggest fear a parent could have, right? Something
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: happening to their kid. It must just be a waking nightmare.
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: To know that your child is somewhere, you have no
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: idea where that child is, and you don't know if
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: they're okay or not. It's the not knowing, the daily trauma.
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: It's like an open wound all the time. There's no closure.
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: There's no answers. You have no idea if she's alive
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: or not. You have no idea whether she's sick or
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: cold or tired. It's the worst feeling in the whole world.
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: Jennifer echoed Zeitler's message that she wouldn't rest until her
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: daughter was found. My heart won't let me stop. Layla
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: didn't have any quit in her. When she had a
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: goal in mind and she wanted something, she was going
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: to get it. And when it comes to her and
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: fighting for her, I'm not going to stop either. I've
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: never backed down from a fight when it came to
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: making sure she was okay. So this isn't going to
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: be the time that I start. I'm going to keep
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: going until it breaks me or until we find her.
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: So with this arrest, at least there's a little bit
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: of movement one way or the other. But according to
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: this article and according to the police and Layla's family,
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: they don't believe that Mr. Thompson was involved. But We'll
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: have to see how this all goes and how it
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: all breaks, because I think that there's a little bit
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: more here than they're letting on. So we'll see where
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: it all goes. We'll keep following along. And when we
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: have an update, we'll get it added to the catalog.
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: All of the information that goes with this episode can
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: be found in the description box. What's up, everyone, and
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: welcome back to the program. In this episode, we're going
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: to talk a little bit more about Missing Woman, Layla Santanello,
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: and what her mom fears has happened to her. And
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: just a quick recap, Layla was last seen in Kingsport,
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: Tennessee on June 27th. After that date, she has not
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: been seen since. And now, after the disappearance of another
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: girl a few months later, her mother fears that a
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: serial killer might be at work. So, let's dive into
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: this article from the U.S. Sun, and let's get caught up. Headline,
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: Same Circles. Layla Santanello's mom shares serial killer fears and
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: chilling adults and kids' bodies linked to missing Holly Lynn Snap.
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: This article was authored by Luke Kenton. The disappearance of
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: two young women from a small Tennessee city has left
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: some family members fearful a human trafficking ring or even
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: a serial killer could be operating in the area and
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: preying on the vulnerable. Well, we all know their favorite
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: targets are the vulnerable themselves. Serial killer types, they're looking
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: to go after people who aren't going to be missed,
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: if you will. People who might have slipped through the cracks.
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: People who don't have family members around that they're in
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: contact with. Those are the sort of people that serial
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: killers target. But every now and then, someone like Layla
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: Santanello ends up going missing. And she's somebody who had
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: a relationship with her mother and wasn't someone who had
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: fallen completely through the cracks. So when someone like this
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: goes missing... Obviously, there's people that are going to be
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: looking for them. Leila Santanello, 21, was last seen roaming
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: the streets of Kingsport, Tennessee on June 27th. Four months later,
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: 19-year-old Holly Lynn Snap vanished without a trace on October 18th,
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: just two miles away. So now look, I'm not going
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: to sit here and say they're connected. I don't know.
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: But certainly something that has to be investigated. You have
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: to take a look at the circumstances. You have to
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: see If these two ladies ran in the same circles,
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: you have to see if they were friends with the
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: same people. And then you have to do your investigation
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: basically from the beginning to the end by recreating this
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: person's life. Who are they hanging out with? Did they
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: have any problems with people? Did they owe somebody money?
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: Whatever it might be. And then from there, you try
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: to establish some kind of commonalities, some kind of bonds,
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: some sort of strands that might connect these two women.
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: And then if that is the case, well, that's when
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: you start thinking about launching an investigation into somebody, once
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: you have evidence, right? But as of now, they don't
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: have anything. They don't know if these two missing cases
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: are linked. They don't know what happened to Layla. They
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: don't know what happened to Holly Lynn. They have no idea.
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: Neither of the two young women has been heard from since,
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: and both were believed to be in vulnerable states at
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: the time of their respective disappearances. Layla was last seen
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: walking barefoot near the AmeriCourt Motel along American Way. And
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: I'm sure at the AmeriCourt Motel, there were one or
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: two shady characters hanging out, right? At those kinds of motels,
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: at least here in Las Vegas, that's usually the case.
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: You go down to like Boulder Highway, forget it. The
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: cast of characters that you see hanging out at these motels,
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: we could do a whole ass reality TV show. So
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: I'm sure that these value motels, these budget motels... down
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: here in Tennessee, are the same kind of deal. Eyewitnesses
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: described her as disheveled and paranoid as if she was
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: trying to hide in the shadows. Family members of Layla
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: told the U.S. Sun she was struggling with fentanyl addiction
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: before vanishing and had recently lost custody of her daughter.
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: And when you're on drugs, sometimes you can go into
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: a panic state. You could have a mental break. The
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: fentanyl could have been mixed with something. There is a
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: whole host of shit that could have went down. But
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: the fact is, you're not in your right frame of
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: mind when you're taking fentanyl. They're putting all kinds of
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: additives into that shit, and none of it's good. From
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: horse tranquilizer to God knows what else. So you have
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: all of these different chemicals having a reaction within one another,
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: and then you drop them into somebody's body. Forget it.
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: It could be all bad, especially if that person already
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: has mental health issues. If that person's dealing with some trauma,
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: like losing your child, all of that could easily lead
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: to a mental break. And then if you're having one
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: of these mental breaks, you're in a vulnerable position. You're
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: a drug addict already. Some disgusting predator sees that, offers
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: you some drugs or whatever, And then who the hell knows?
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: She had also suffered a recent loss in her family,
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: which had taken a significant emotional toll on her. Holly Lynn, meanwhile,
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: also suffered from addiction and mental health issues, and her
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: parents told WJHL that she operated at the mental capacity
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: of a 9 or 10 year old. Just horrible. Absolutely horrible.
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: And at some point, we're going to have to have
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: a reckoning with this addiction problem. Obviously, we're not ready
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: for that conversation as a country yet because we keep
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: doing the same bullshit and you keep seeing the same
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: people in power talking about the same nonsense. But eventually,
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: there's going to be a reckoning. And eventually, people are
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: going to realize that the bullshit we're doing doesn't work.
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: The shit that we're doing leads directly to what we're
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: talking about in this story. More addiction, more problems, more pain,
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: more suffering. She was last seen on October 15th in
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: the area of Bellridge Drive, but hadn't spoken to her
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: parents in several days. Her family said it's completely unlike
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: Holly Lynn to cut off all communication, adding they're particularly
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: concerned because of how she is and how she's a
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: little more trusting of people. I hate to say it,
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: but this day and age, being trusting of anybody is
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: not a good idea. Yesterday, I'm at the casino, right? And...
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: I happen to win a few bucks playing Keno. I know,
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: old man game. Don't break my balls. So I'm playing Keno,
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: and I win some money, and I go to the
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: ATM to cash out my ticket. And out of the
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: corner of my eye, I see this degenerate kind of
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: eyeing me, right? Well, little does he know that I've
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: already seen him a mile away, and my east side
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: situational awareness had already kicked in. So I act like
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: I'm slipping outside the door, right, to walk to my car,
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: but I really slip in another side door. So this
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: dude thinks that I'm walking out to my car. So
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: he walks out the door, right, to try and follow
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: me or whatever. Little does he know that I'm behind
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: him now. So I look up on him and I
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: just walk up to him and I'm like, hey, what's up, homie?
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: We got a problem. You looking for me? You know,
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: do we know each other? You should have seen old
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: boy's face. Old boy's face turned completely pale white. Bro
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: was like, I was just trying to see if I
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: could borrow a couple bucks and this. I was like,
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: what do I look like? Wells Fargo, bro. You better
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: tell your fucking story walking, homie. But the point is,
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: if I didn't have my east side situational awareness kicked in,
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: who knows, that could have ended bad for me. And
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: if I was hammered, some kind of drunken fool walking
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: out of the casino like this dude probably thought I was,
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: bro would have probably tried to roll me. So the
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: point is, if you're inebriated, it's very difficult, obviously, to
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: evaluate what's going on. And then you add to the
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: fact that you have a drug addiction, you can find
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: yourself in a bad place real quick. And my guess
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: is that's what happened here. Layla was in the and
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: that somebody out there knows what happened to Layla. Obviously,
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: the difficult part is finding that person. In the weeks since,
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: Layla and Holly Lynn's families have been in communication, and
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: their mothers believe the two disappearances may be linked. Further
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: investigation has discovered that the two young women ran in
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: the same social circles, and Layla's mom Jennifer and Holly
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: Lynn's adoptive mom Heather think there's a good chance they
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: both knew each other personally. Adding to their belief, The
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: cases are linked is the fact that Layla and Holly
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: Lynn both have similar appearances and are roughly the same
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: weight and height. The first thing I noticed about Holly
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: Lynn is that she's a small person, like Layla, said Jennifer.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: They're around 4 foot 10 inches tall and 100 pounds,
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: so very small and childlike. Adult girls in kids' bodies.
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: You know, the same kind of girls that Rex Ewerman,
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: the alleged Long Island serial killer, targeted. He likes smaller women, right?
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: You look at all of the women that were killed
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: that he's been connected to so far. Very similar builds.
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: Jennifer believes the similarities between the girls and the perceived
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: links between their disappearances could mean one of a number
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: of things. A lot of things pop into my head,
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: she said. I wonder about trafficking, but also aren't serial
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: killers the type to pick a specific height and weight
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: and that kind of thing? They most certainly are. A
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: lot of them have a taste, if you will. you know,
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: a certain kind of girl that they're looking for. So
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to say that that's what's happening here,
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: but until we know for sure, I don't write anything off.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: As you all know, I leave a lot of headroom
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: for shit to go south. These are the thoughts that
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: hadn't fully occurred to me until we had another girl
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: go missing. There could be a serious problem going on
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: around here. There are a lot of theories that roll
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: through my head over and over every day. It's a
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: scary world we live in these days. Anything is possible.
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: She's not wrong about that. Definitely a scary world filled
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: with a lot of scary individuals. Hunting for leads. On
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: November 10th, Jennifer and Heather held a vigil for their
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: two missing children in the center of town. Jennifer said
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: she had been moved by the outpouring of public support,
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: but still needs more to be done to raise awareness
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: about Layla and Holly Lynn's disappearances, further refueled. Similarly, Holly
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: Lynn's mom told the Times News, they say it takes
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: a village to raise a child, and I believe it's
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: going to take a community coming together to bring Layla
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: and Holly Lynn home. We have exhausted who we know
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: to reach out to. Well, one thing's for sure. We're
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: going to keep talking about this story until we get
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: some resolution. And as you all know, I'm like a
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: dog with a bone when we get ourselves a story.
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: We're If you want consistency, you're going to find it.
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: And we're definitely going to keep talking about this until
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: we get some information about Layla and Holly Lynn. And
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: the authorities down there better get off their asses and
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: do a little bit of work. One person unconvinced the
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: disappearances are linked is Layla's stepmom, Brittany Zeitler, who told
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: the U.S. Sun she believes the two cases are just
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: tragic coincidences. Probably, more than likely they are, but we
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: have to investigate. We don't know. Zeitler has been conducting
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: her own probe into Layla's disappearance with the help of
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: a private investigator. Last week, her PI uncovered new surveillance
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: footage that shed new light on the timeline of Layla's disappearance.
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: It was believed the young mom of one was last
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: sighted leaving an ice cream shop on North Eastman Road
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: and heading to a nearby Five Below to buy shoes,
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: but she never made it to the store. However, investigators
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reported no longer deem
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: the sighting credible, according to Zeitler. The new footage shows
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: a shoeless Layla walking past a storage facility near the
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: AmeriCord Hotel, heading south towards Kingsport, Greenbelt some distance from
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: the ice cream store. Where she headed next remains a
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: total mystery. That's what's going to have to be found out.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: Where was she going? Who was she with? All of it.
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: And unfortunately, they just don't have that yet. Layla's Last
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: Known Movements TBI and Zeitler's PI are now combing back
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: through surveillance footage from the area for June in search
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: for new leads and to establish a more accurate timeline
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: of her disappearance. The troubling saga began on June 24th,
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: three days before Layla was last seen, when Jennifer received
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: message from Layla's boyfriend via Layla's Facebook account asking if
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: she was in jail or in the hospital because he
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: didn't know where she was. Messages viewed by the US
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: Sun show Later that same night, Layla messaged her mom
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: from the same account, telling her, I'm fine, Mom. I've
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: been with a friend. I don't have a phone to
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: text or call. I'm using someone else's. Okay, I love you,
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: replied Jennifer, to which Layla responded in what would prove
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: to be her final message. I love you so much more.
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: Layla and her boyfriend, according to Jennifer, had a falling
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: out days prior, and Layla had been staying with friends
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: for a few nights before checking into the AmeriCorp motel
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: along American Way on June 25th. But by the time
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: she made it to the hotel, she looked disheveled and
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: appeared paranoid, as if she was trying to hide in
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: the shadows, witnesses have told Jennifer. Zeitler said she had
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: since learned more details about the nature of Layla and
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: her boyfriend's altercation. Friends of Layla's have since informed her
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: that she was secretly starting another relationship with a different man,
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: Zeitler said. That is not good. And the boyfriend here,
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: or ex-boyfriend, I hope he's being investigated. She believes Layla's
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: boyfriend found out about the affair, and so Layla fled
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: their home without shoes or any of her personal belongings
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: and ran to one of her friends' houses. Layla spent
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: two nights sleeping at friends' homes, one of whom was
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: her apparent new love interest, before going to the Americourt
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: Motel on June 25th, Zeitler said, where another of her
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: friends was staying. On June 26th, other guests at the
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: motel reported seeing Jennifer going door to door. Again, she
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: appeared to be in a state of distress, but declined
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: help from numerous strangers who asked if she wanted to
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: borrow a phone or if she needed a ride home.
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: At some stage in the late morning of the 26th,
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: there was another altercation involving Layla and an unknown person.
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: Before that altercation, Layla, according to Zeitler, told her friend,
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: I have to take care of something. Layla was threatened
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: with eviction from the motel because of the commotion. She
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: then walked off into a nearby woods about midday. There's
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: a warehouse near the woods, and there were approximately five
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: employees that were working that said they could see Layla
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: sticking out from a mile away, said Zeitler. Based on
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: her paranoia, her panicking, and her being freaked out, it
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: could be that she was running away from whoever she
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: spoke with at the motel. Very possible. If you've never
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: dealt with somebody who's having a mental break, you just
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: don't know. They are inconsolable. You cannot say a thing
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: to them. They're caught up in their madness, their, you know,
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: their mental health problem, and the only thing you can
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: do is get a mental health professional to help them.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: A family's plan. The last known sighting of Layla came
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: the following day outside the storage facility. Layla's trail goes
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: completely cold therein. It was Zeitler and her husband, Layla's father,
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: who would report her missing in the early hours of
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: June 27th. Despite the lack of leads in the case,
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: Zeitler said, she will continue clinging on to hope Layla
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: is still out there and alive until she's told otherwise.
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: All we can do is hope and pray that she is,
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: said Zeitler. I've had quite a few success stories of
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: similar cases, and that gives you a glimmer of hope,
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: so I'm just going to continue thinking she's alive until
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: we're told otherwise. Her family all hope she's out there somewhere,
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: It's just a matter of where. Speaking directly to her stepdaughter,
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: Zeitler added, come home and we can start this over together.
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: You can be given a new day, a new chance,
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: a new beginning. God only knows what you're going through
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: right now, but there's a lot of help and a
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: lot of love to offer you. And with the right
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: therapy and support, we'll be able to overcome anything you're
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: facing now. And she's not wrong. With the right support,
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: the right kind of help, Layla can get clean. I
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: just hope that it's not too late. We won't stop. Jennifer, meanwhile,
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: says she routinely tries to prevent her mind from going
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: to the darker places and exploring less favorable outcomes as she,
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: like Brittany, clings to hope that Layla will soon come home.
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: She described feeling as if she's living in a bubble
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: disconnected from the outside world as she remains consumed by
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: the whys and what ifs leading up to June 27th. However,
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: she refuses to rest Until the truth is found. My
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: heart won't let me stop. Layla didn't have any quit
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: in her when she had a goal in mind and
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: she wanted something. She was going to get it. And
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: when it comes to her and fighting for her, I'm
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: not going to stop either. I've never backed down from
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: a fight when it came to making sure she was okay.
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: So this isn't going to be the time that I start.
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: I'm going to keep going until it breaks me or
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: until we find her. Anyone with information that may help
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: locate the two women is asked to contact the Kingsport
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: Police Department at 423-343-9780 or a private investigator, Steve Fisher,
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: at 877-619-9800 And folks, we're going to keep talking about
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: this one here on the podcast until we have resolution. Now,
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: I don't know what happened to Layla. And with her
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: vulnerable lifestyle, there are a million different things that could
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: have went down. But her family deserves some answers, right?
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: Just like Holly Lynn's. So we're going to keep talking
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: about the story. And hopefully somebody out there knows something,
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: hears something, and then says something. All of the information
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: that goes with this episode can be found in the
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: description box.