Latest / PNW Haunts & Homicides / Misty Copsey: Puyallup's Dark History | Pt. 1

Transcript

Misty Copsey: Puyallup's Dark History | Pt. 1 · PNW Haunts & Homicides

• 0:00
  With fast, isolated stretches of open road carving a path through the immense
• 0:06
  forest in many areas, it's the perfect playground for those that have a passion
• 0:11
  for the outdoors. Though as has been evidenced, time and time again, the areas that
• 0:19
  have remained rugged outside the city limits can also be the ideal devil's
• 0:24
  playground for many different types of misty needs. So think about that
• 0:29
  next time you tell me that the lumberjack chic all a dexter is so safe.
• 0:36
  Hi Cassie. Hi Caitlyn. Hi creepy people. Hello! Hello! If you're new to our
• 0:50
  creepy corner of the world, this is PNW Haunts and Homicides where we chat about
• 0:55
  true crime, paranormal and all things creepy in the Pacific Northwest. We also do
• 1:01
  a tarot reading at the end of every episode for deeper insight into our topic
• 1:06
  for the episode. So make sure you stick around if you're into that. We will be here.
• 1:12
  Yeah. Are you into it? Us and our crystals and our wine will be here.
• 1:16
  Yeah. You know what? We're going to have to procure a lighter at some point for
• 1:20
  our candle. Oh yes. You can't make flames with your fingers
• 1:24
  yet. Come on. I cannot. Basic which one? I am basic but...
• 1:31
  All right. Well, I feel like we're very clearly stalling now. And I know why I am. I
• 1:39
  don't know why you would want to stall that. I want to talk about ghosts. Okay. Well,
• 1:45
  you know, maybe later. Promises have been made. I mean, I said maybe. I feel like a
• 1:54
  mom at the mall. I said maybe. She's about to throw herself on the floor. Oh, I will
• 2:00
  throw tantrum. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. All right. The Pacific Northwest has at
• 2:09
  times been thought of even referred to outright as a safe haven for serial killers.
• 2:17
  Oh, I don't like that. Neither does that car driving by. I thought that was a plane.
• 2:23
  Yeah. It I mean could have been anything. Could have been a guy on a lawn mower. That's
• 2:31
  so funny. My first thought was lawn mower. But I was like motor cycle. Seems more
• 2:36
  plausible. But you know what? Let's just go with it. With fast, isolated stretches of open
• 2:43
  road, carving a path through the immense forest. In many areas, it's the perfect playground
• 2:49
  for those that have a passion for the outdoors. Though as has been evidenced time and time
• 2:57
  again, the areas that have remained rugged outside the city limits can also be the ideal
• 3:05
  devil's playground for many different types of misdeeds. So think about that next time
• 3:11
  you tell me that the lumberjack chic a-la-Dexter is so sexy. I mean, I have nothing to say.
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  Although I prefer the devil's playground to be hell, just like playing your own space,
• 3:29
  you know? Yeah. Stay in your lane. Puyallup.com, boasts the Washington State Fair held in Puyallup
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  is the largest event held each year in the state of Washington. Ooh, I didn't know that.
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  Yeah, I didn't either, actually. And it's kind of a big deal. Kids get out of school early
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  and according to some locals that we actually know from what happens in the woods. Hey, hey,
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  the kids are even given some free tickets. Oh, so pretty sweet. That's cool. I know.
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  Between foot and road traffic for the fair, Puyallup's population is said to temporarily
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  roughly quadruple. Whoa. Yeah. So like people are coming from out of town, converging on
• 4:24
  core wrecked. I was going to have you say. Puyallup. Puyallup. Puyallup. Okay. According to
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  the city website, the fair repeatedly ranks as one of the top 10 fairs in the United States.
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  Dang. What's one through nine? Go. I don't know. Damn it. Not, not rank in them. Not what
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  we're doing here. Each year, the Washington State Fair hosts two annual events, the larger
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  event spanning roughly two weeks of the month of September, while the spring event in April
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  lasts less than a handful of days. The fair is a huge draw for visitors throughout the
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  state, as well as elsewhere in the region, although apparently maybe not all the way down
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  here in Portland, since neither of us knew about it, but yeah, I don't know. No event of this
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  scale in the Pacific Northwest would be complete without remarkably tasty and unique food
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  to match the desires of the local populace, because you know, we some foodies. Why are you
• 5:34
  talking about food? I'm hungry. I know. I'm so sorry. You picked a really bad episode to
• 5:40
  show up hungry. Oh, no. Should we cut for a food time? Yeah, let's after eight minutes
• 5:47
  of recording. Let's go. Because we've worked really hard. We've been working so hard. Larry
• 5:55
  Ball, the owner of earthquakes burgers, shared his own arrest journey from Usher in the grandstands
• 6:02
  of the fairgrounds to pervert of beloved burgers. It's like a real rags to reach his kind
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  of a, it's cute. Yeah. I love it. Oh, yeah. A building yep. So I can tear you down. Don't
• 6:17
  tear down the earthquake burgers. Not the burgers. He had worked the grandstands for 15
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  years while he was busy living life and trying to make ends meet through various side hustles
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  and seasonal gigs. Eventually, he decided to set up his own burger stand. Initially,
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  the stand was built out of plywood with a plastic roof located outside the gates to the
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  fairgrounds. Oh, the gates in this story play a prominent role just as many others have
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  throughout all of mankind's often brutal existence. The wait, gates, gates, gates, yeah, gates,
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  you know, letting people in, keeping people out. Oh, okay. Yeah. I was very confused. I wasn't
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  sure. Yeah, I was like, I'm not sure where we do you know what do you want another visual
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  I had in my head. Yeah. I've just like gates closing on people and like smashing them. Okay.
• 7:22
  I want you to put a pin in that. Put a pin in that. Okay. No, I don't like it. No, I don't
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  want it. No, just put a pin in that. I don't want it. Once he settled on the particulars
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  of his plan in 1992, the first earthquake burgers were born aptly named for a burger of
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  such ample serving size now with a reputation of seemingly near zeitgeist proportion to match.
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  Oh, they be legendary. How big are they? Are you going to tell us? Fucking huge. They're fucking huge.
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  They have a poundage. You know that they probably do. I could look really quick. Do you think it's
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  like a pound burger? It's like a half pound burger. You know, let me see. I looked at a very
• 8:07
  specific article that talked about how big they were and I remember feeling like, it's got to be
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  bigger because like McDonald's don't they do like a double quarter pounder, isn't that about like a
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  half a pound? I think so. I don't know that it's like it's bigger than any other burger out there.
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  I just think that typically at a fair, I don't know that you see like huge burgers like this. Yeah.
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  But everything at fairs are like big. It's true, right? Like the giant turkey leg. That's what I
• 8:36
  usually think of the corn dog is like the like foot long corn dog. You like a big corn dog. I do. Yes.
• 8:45
  If a picture of me eating one and a guy in the background staring at me if we want to post it to
• 8:51
  Patreon. Yeah. Yeah. We do. Yeah. To dig that one out. That's hilarious. It is really funny. Wow.
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  It looks like they're like half pound burgers. It says nearly two pounds of burger, a half pound
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  of beef, grilled to perfection, and a pound of curly fries per order await. That's like what?
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  So like the whole meal that's two pounds? I think so. I think that's what they're saying. Yeah. So it's
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  just like epic proportions. Curly fries. Oh, that's so funny. It opened for 13 years. This fixed
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  location drew a crowd of diners near and far. Earthquakes giant burgers, which once came in smaller
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  sizes such as the tremor. Oh, designed for a mere mortals digestive tract at a still hefty
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  quarter pound weight. Have often compared to the likeness or the likewise legendary miners burgers
• 9:56
  near Yakima. Wow. Can I get a vegan tremor, please? I don't think so. Yeah.
• 10:05
  Rude. Well, I don't know. Suck it up buttercup. I think this is a really cute quote from Larry.
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  Oh, Larry said they make a damn good burger. I'm happy to be compared to miners anytime.
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  Oh, that is cute. That is cute. All right. But believe it or not, we're not here to proselytize about
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  any of the Pacific Northwest, many seemingly supernatural number of burger chains.
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  Many of which arguably reach near mythical levels of fandom. When was the last time that in
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  and out opened and people absolutely lost their shit? Like two years ago. Yeah. And there's a bunch
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  of other burger chains that have been like opening up over time. I think one of them's called super
• 10:57
  deluxe. There's shake shacks opening up all over the place. I don't know. America just likes its
• 11:04
  burgers. I love our burgers. But how fun would it be to do a podcast where we enjoyed one of the
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  Pacific Northwest greenest natural resources and reviewed local food? I'm down.
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  TM. TM. I want to do it right now. Can we review some food right now? I don't care what it is. I'll
• 11:27
  review it. I'll agree. Instead, this week, we have something of a historical walkabout.
• 11:35
  Maybe it's just because I've been binging lost for the first time. But I really do think it all
• 11:41
  has a cohesive way of explaining why there's plenty of pain in puyaleb. And we'll barely scratch
• 11:53
  the surface because we aren't going to touch on indigenous populations in the territory. For now,
• 12:00
  that's honestly a topic in the Pacific Northwest that could be an entire podcast in its own right.
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  And while I'm probably not the right person for that particular desk for that show,
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  I'm sure we'll be back and I'll do my best like always. But nailing Puyallup so far, so...
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  Y-Y-Y-Y-Y- Indeed. Which leads in nicely to something else that I want to say. It's not entirely
• 12:35
  a tangent. But you know what? Whatever. Here it goes. I have to take a moment to say that I'm
• 12:44
  deeply touched by the listeners that reach out to us with case suggestions. And particularly those
• 12:52
  that reach out with incredibly rare nuggets and gems from communities that we may not be a part of,
• 13:01
  particularly, to help us share new and important stories. I'm looking at all of you in the Facebook
• 13:09
  discussion group. And particularly I wanted to mention our dude, Dewi. Hopefully it's okay that I
• 13:17
  called you, dude. Dewi, dude? Yeah. You should know it's a hardy term of endearment in my book. I agree.
• 13:25
  Yeah. My one wish is to have more hours to do this each week. Join our Patreon.
• 13:33
  Keep sending the suggestions in because I promise you we're furiously working away at as many of them
• 13:43
  as the inspiration and resources line up for each story. Actually just recently someone
• 13:51
  mentioned a topic in the Facebook discussion group that we're not only planning to cover,
• 13:56
  but that we'll be visiting very soon. Oh really? Is it the thing that we're going on next weekend?
• 14:04
  Yeah. What was the suggestion? It was oh okay. Yeah. Anyways, that is probably already too many
• 14:12
  beans spilled. Everything in this is food. Don't spill beans! I’m talking about nuggets. Now I'm talking about beans. I'm so sorry.
• 14:21
  It's completely unintentional, but I'm clearly a witch. God damn it. If you were a witch, why didn't you
• 14:27
  tell me to eat? You know, you win some, you lose some. While not every episode will be laden with
• 14:34
  bombshells of earth shattering truth, I will do my best to find plenty of those cases that help us
• 14:42
  to focus on something that I feel like is bigger than any one person and certainly bigger than
• 14:49
  our little show. Although we're pretty excited today because we just found out that we are about to be
• 14:57
  a show that takes up a little bit more space. Yeah, we are. We're women and we're taking up space.
• 15:05
  Watch out. Oh my god. No man spreading allowed in the pod lab. Only woman spreading. Yes.
• 15:14
  I promise you though, there's no case that's too obscure for us to care deeply about. Only those
• 15:21
  that I cannot find source material for. I hope that makes sense to all of you. Please don't think you
• 15:31
  can't just DM us a missing person poster because we'll share it. If the case is new or unknown,
• 15:40
  even if I can't offer you the coverage that it deserves because I don't have network backing
• 15:45
  somehow yet. We'll share it. We believe that each of those cases deserve to be shared so
• 15:56
  whatever we can do will strive to always. Before we get into a true crime case ripped from the
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  headlines of our youth, we're going to get into the way back machine. What I stumbled on through
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  the course of my research is nothing short of heart wrenching and it reverberates throughout
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  decades of Pacific Northwest history. Because what I learned is that even in just the last 100
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  years or so, the very same grounds where the fair has been held have been the setting of more human
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  misery than I could have imagined. In some cases, racism and nationalism driven by war and the
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  accompanying fear rapidly growing the world over has been the catalyst. In others, that suffering has
• 16:52
  been produced in some form or fashion by what most of us can only imagine as an evil, animalistic
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  impulse. In any case, that human suffering can quickly turn countless strangers into a community
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  bonded by whatever shape that shared trauma takes in the face of unimaginable tragedy.
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  But first, back to the fair. Okay. Established in 1900, the Washington State Fair
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  was far from its infancy. When Camp Harmony was established, that sounds nice. Yep, Harmony,
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  it's a good thing, right? Harmony. But that name is simply a euphemism and I have to say that
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  Camp Harmony is a rather flowery one in this case. The Puyallup assembly center, as its otherwise
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  known, was a temporary facility during World War Two. And even that is a euphemism compared to the
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  commonly accepted nomenclature in modern times, which so far as I'm aware is internment camp.
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  I know where you're going with that. You did. I was like, I'm not sure if she's uncomfortable because
• 18:26
  she knows exactly where I'm going or if she can't quite like. Yeah, as soon as you said camp, I was like,
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  okay, I know where this is going. Land, a camp, true crime, I get it. Yeah.
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  Specifically, the facility housed several thousand Japanese Americans during World War Two.
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  Not hundreds, thousands. And they were kept in deplorable conditions that by today's standard,
• 19:04
  I think you now have to book a glamping trip through Airbnb to experience from a weekend.
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  But, excuse me. Except back then, you didn't get to pick the place where you'd end up.
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  And when you arrived, it might be filthy or cold. Which, to be honest, sounds like our Airbnb
• 19:24
  last year for PNW True Crime Fest.
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  filthy cold and haunted. Yeah. And you may end up having barely enough to eat, which sounds less
• 19:37
  familiar. You can't take the vast majority of your stuff, which getting cold again because you know
• 19:45
  we overpacked for that podcast trip. Yeah. And that stuff you left, well, it may or may not be there
• 19:53
  when you get back later. And no one gives a shit about your one-star review.
• 20:00
  I do. Yeah. Basically, what I'm saying is we might have ended up with a less-than-steller
• 20:10
  booking for that trip, but it pails in comparison, obviously. Yeah. But, you know, just trying to put
• 20:20
  this in terms that the kids can relate to these days, you know? The kids. The kids. Where are the kids?
• 20:27
  We are. I act like one. A little bit. Based on the widely accepted figures of the time,
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  the roughly 7,400 people interned in Puyallup account for doubling the population of Puyallup during the
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  internment period. Yep. They had the population all in one area.
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  So the entire fairgrounds were inhabited by the same number of people as everywhere else in Puyallup.
• 21:08
  Holy shit. Put that like as plainly as possible so you can just kind of sit with that fact for a second.
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  Yeah, you said it way better than I did because my mind was just like, yeah. What? The mind, it boggles.
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  These were individuals of Japanese descent primarily from the west coast,
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  from areas like western Washington and even as far as the state of Alaska.
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  Damn. Yeah. They just round them all up. Yes. Yes. What the fuck? It's so much worse than you think.
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  And I know that we learned a lot about this in history, but there's a lot of stuff that
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  was really glossed over or specifics that we just are not made aware of on a, just a fundamental
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  level of like historical education. So I've learned more like researching ghosts in this fucking
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  podcast than I did in school. Yeah. Literally. Yep. But as might be implied by the term temporary
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  facility, many, if not the majority, would be carted off to other encampments such Minidoka, Tule Lake
• 22:27
  and heart mountain throughout Idaho, California and Wyoming. All of which was
• 22:37
  authorized by the War Relocation Authority under Executive Order 9066. The War Relocation
• 22:48
  Authority. Authority under an Executive Order. In case you're not keeping track,
• 22:55
  it's typically the individual in the Oval Office that issues executive orders.
• 23:02
  So let me be blunt. If you think elections don't matter, particularly presidential elections,
• 23:10
  I'd like you to consider the impact of being able to issue the type of order that involuntarily
• 23:17
  displaces, relocates and essentially in prisons somewhere in the neighborhood of 110,000 people
• 23:27
  based on little more than what amounts to superstition. The cowboys probably have more
• 23:36
  justification for disliking Jessica Simpson, which is a ridiculous comparison, but
• 23:45
  which brings up a whole nother point about feminism, but it's fine. We won't go there. Yeah. I mean,
• 23:50
  this patriarchy. Yeah. Deep cut sports saying reference, but like it's the only one I have.
• 23:56
  Cassie, if you remind me at the end of this, I'll tell you the one and only sports adjacent joke
• 24:02
  that I know. Oh, okay. Does it have to do with balls? Not really. Darn. Yeah. You had a question. Yes.
• 24:12
  Are you going to tell us who the president was during World War II? Yeah. It was a
• 24:18
  bruise. Now that you say it, I'm like, I want to know. Yeah. It was, I mean, it's a president that's
• 24:24
  typically beloved. I hope it's not friend of the pod FDR. We're going to have to stop calling
• 24:30
  in friend of the pod, which is fine. I will take back things that I've said. Franklin D Roosevelt
• 24:41
  was our 30 second president 1933 to 1945. When was the war? It ended right towards the end of his
• 24:53
  presidency in most places in the world. So it was him. It was. So Franklin, Delano Roosevelt. Yes.
• 25:04
  Cancelled. No longer a friend of the pod. I think we really we only called him that because he kept
• 25:13
  showing up in the story, not really because we had like an affinity towards him. Is that what you say?
• 25:19
  Yeah. Yeah. I've never seen. The cap word of the week. I've been listening to a lot of books. Okay.
• 25:31
  Shm ready pants. There was a word you said earlier. I meant to ask what it meant. I didn't. I didn't.
• 25:36
  Well, you said some big word in the beginning. And I was like, the fuck does that mean?
• 25:41
  Prosletize. Yes. Prosletize. I'm going to read you the definition because I feel like now you're
• 25:49
  going to be able to judge me on whether or not I used it correctly. So, um, okay. So there's two
• 25:54
  definitions. When you Google prosletize, convert or attempt to convert someone from one religion,
• 26:01
  belief or opinion to another or advocate or promote a belief or a course of action. So in this case,
• 26:10
  we would be promoting burgers. Makes sense to me. Okay. Cool. I've gotten that note from some of my
• 26:19
  friends who listen and they're like, Caitlyn uses a lot of big words. And I like when you ask what it
• 26:24
  means because I was going to ask when it meant. Okay. Well, that makes me feel like kind of an asshole.
• 26:31
  No, no, no. I don't think it's like you're just like educating me more than like, okay.
• 26:36
  Like in a fun way, not a douchey way. Yeah. Okay. I just don't want to sound like a douche.
• 26:42
  It's like one word in episode. It's not like not every episode. It's not like constantly. You're like,
• 26:49
  I don't like this podcast. She makes me feel dumb. I like that about it. It happens to me with other
• 26:56
  podcasts too. Like I've had that happen with podcasts. Sure. Yeah. Like how else are you supposed to
• 27:02
  learn words? It's not like I read like a bunch of like academic bookage. Yeah. But bookage.
• 27:07
  I think the word you're looking for is literature. Bookage. And the risk of sounding like a douche.
• 27:18
  I love myself. Okay. I love you too. Okay. Some people attempt to be a force for good and for change.
• 27:28
  George Tsutakawa created a memorial statue that's located just within the entrance of the fairgrounds.
• 27:36
  But it's not the only piece in the state of Washington that has been lovingly created to commemorate
• 27:44
  both the place of his family's upbringing and the complicated past that it carries.
• 27:49
  One such piece, the Tsutakawa Memorial Gates, disappeared from Seattle's Washington Park
• 27:59
  Arboretum on March 18th of 2020. The whole ass gate disappeared? Mm-hmm. Just days after the Pacific
• 28:08
  Northwest entered lockdown during the Great Panini crisis. Wow. All attempts at joking aside.
• 28:18
  I don't relish the thought of the potential Asian hate sentiment that may have been behind.
• 28:26
  What I view personally as kind of a heinous act of vandalism at the time. Yeah.
• 28:34
  I'd like to think that was just the result of lockdowns, stir craziness.
• 28:39
  But the last few years have left me with a feeling that's probably unlikely. Yeah.
• 28:46
  But let's dwell on the words of a true artist far more gifted than myself instead of that thought.
• 28:54
  And I've edited only for brevity. This is a quote from him. Actually from his son.
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  The antique bronze gates subdued in the reflected sunlight are cunningly designed,
• 29:12
  but so sturdily built as to resist time and its erosion. As noted by a 1976 Arboretum bulletin,
• 29:22
  covering the installation of the gates designed by UW professor George Tsutakawa, a noted American
• 29:31
  sculptor. And this is the quote from his son. My father expressed the idea that the sturdy bronze
• 29:40
  material he used for dozens of sculptures and fountains could last for hundreds of years.
• 29:45
  Instead, the memorial gates, which sat near the north entry to the Washington Park Arboretum
• 29:54
  at the Graham Visitors Center, were destroyed almost 45 years after they were lovingly installed
• 30:02
  and dedicated. Thieves cut through the supports and quickly loaded the two heavy gates,
• 30:08
  20 feet wide in total, into a truck to be hauled away and sold for scrap. Presumably.
• 30:21
  Is it because they were made of copper? Did you say copper? Bronze.
• 30:25
  Sorry. Yeah. That doesn't even make any sense. I was like copper. Okay. Don't people like sell copper
• 30:34
  for shit, right? Yeah. Bronze? They do. I don't know. I don't know if bronze has a similar.
• 30:39
  Clearly, there must be a similar market. That's a lot of fucking work though. Yep. It's almost like it
• 30:50
  seems as though you'd have to be trying to make some sort of a statement beyond just the theft,
• 30:58
  because I'm sure there would be easier things to steal. Yeah. Well, somewhere between the involuntary
• 31:08
  imprisonment of men, women, and children in this country, then later the maddening theft,
• 31:16
  dating to a more recent time, is another disappearance. And it's not the only one of its kind in the area,
• 31:24
  sadly. And while we could probably talk about some of the dark history of the area for multiple
• 31:32
  episodes, I'm actually going to change gears just slightly, because as I said, there's plenty of pain
• 31:43
  in Puyallup. This is the story of the mysterious disappearance of Misty Copsey from the Washington
• 31:53
  State Fair in Puyallup, Washington in 1992. Hopefully she had a taste of the earthquake burgers.
• 32:05
  My hopes so. We're going to bounce around a little bit. I'm flexing my herstory muscles a bit.
• 32:15
  Oh, that's my favorite thing. Yeah. The further I fell down the rabbit hole, the further it seemed
• 32:24
  that there was for me to fall. Misty Copsey was born in 1978 to Diana Smith. That's Diana's
• 32:34
  maiden name, because I'm going to start calling her Diana Copsie through the rest of this.
• 32:39
  And Buck Copsie. Buck. Buck. Oh, man, I always go to kill Bill in my head. Is there a buck in that?
• 32:50
  Yeah. I don't remember my name so long. Buck. Oh, huh. I watch. He also says that.
• 32:58
  Anyways, they were essentially already separated by the time that she came along, in fact, though.
• 33:05
  Misty was primarily raised by her mother thereafter. As she grew up, Misty was a successful student
• 33:14
  who played multiple sports, softball, basketball, volleyball, and was popular amongst her peers.
• 33:22
  Misty's best friend was Trina Bevard, aka Bean. Oh, and she referred to Misty as Bunyan. Bunyan?
• 33:35
  No idea. I kids. I don't know. It's kids say the dirty things. Bean and Bunyan.
• 33:45
  It's something that a lot of sources commented on. They're kind of weird, but also pretty cute.
• 33:53
  I don't know. I don't get it, but oh, it's so cute. I don't know. If someone started calling me Bunyan
• 34:00
  as a nickname, I think I'd be like, yeah, I'm out. Maybe she was just always attached to her foot.
• 34:10
  I don't know. I don't know if that makes a lot of sense, but you know what? We're rolling with that.
• 34:17
  She was a they were attached to the foot. Yep. Good old Bunyan. My friend used to call everything Bunyan's.
• 34:26
  So just like anything on her foot, if it like heard or something, we'd be like, oh, we have a Bunyan on
• 34:30
  our foot. I think we just thought it was a funny word. Yeah. I've never had a Bunyan. So yeah, I don't
• 34:37
  I don't know. So weird. Kids are weird. All right. Misty had grown up in the Green Meadow
• 34:46
  mobile park in Puyallup before she and her mother moved to a duplex in Spanaway. It was a nicer
• 34:54
  area and generally seemed like an upgrade for their family life as a duo. Though Misty would keep
• 35:02
  in touch with friends she'd made while living at Green Meadow. Kids are friends. They stay friends.
• 35:09
  Oh, it's a close. I mean, relatively like it's a nearby community. It's not super close. It's,
• 35:19
  I mean, drivable, but they're not driving age yet. Is it like a phone or like a pen-pal situation?
• 35:25
  A little bit more. And then like they did still live close enough that, you know, activity is
• 35:30
  like going to the fair. You know, they could do things like that together still. Oh, yeah.
• 35:35
  Diana was a caregiver for an elderly woman in her 90s and she worked nights.
• 35:42
  So Misty spent many of her evenings alone at home. Misty and her friend Trina wanted to go to
• 35:52
  the fair in Puyallup as young teenage girls the thought of attending unshap around was undoubtedly
• 36:00
  incredibly alluring. The pair had managed to pull it off. Misty's mother, Diana Copsey,
• 36:08
  reluctantly dropped them off. The girls were eager for a taste of freedom, but not one of the aforementioned
• 36:16
  trio could have known how a night of frivolity might turn sour. Diana would later state that the
• 36:25
  last words they exchanged were "I love yous," followed by - and this is coming from the mother Diana -
• 36:32
  "Just don't screw this up or I'm never going to let you do anything else."
• 36:37
  Of course Misty agreed. Of course. Yep. The plan was for them to get a ride home from a friend or
• 36:46
  ride the bus. Trina's parents were under the impression that the girls had transportation and some
• 36:55
  level of supervision it sounds like the whole time. They were not fully aware of what the situation
• 37:03
  really was. That happens. Yeah. And here's the thing. I won't pass too much judgment about Diana
• 37:11
  going along with what seemed like kind of a harmless white lie because I know it's something she's been
• 37:20
  beat up from all directions about. But she obviously knew she wasn't going to be able to pick up the girls
• 37:28
  when they were done at the fair. So she was aware that obviously they didn't have a ride home.
• 37:37
  They were going to find someone or take the bus, but I don't know. There's something about
• 37:45
  the fair being in a public place. I'm sure that didn't seem like a very unsafe thing to do.
• 37:52
  In 1992, I think in a place like Puyallup. Yeah. Me and my friends used to take the bus all the time.
• 38:01
  Yeah. Well, not saying to let your kids do that. I'm just saying like, I'm saying that because there's
• 38:10
  another piece that yeah, well, you'll see. Okay. As girls attending a carnival or a fair might likely do
• 38:18
  in the best of circumstances, Misty and Trina lost track of time. Before they knew how much time
• 38:25
  had passed, the pair realized that they were too late to catch the last bus that might set them off
• 38:32
  on an easy course towards home. No. That particular bus line stopped running shortly before
• 38:39
  9 p.m. Which doesn't seem very late, but it's also not at this point in time a huge busling metropolis either.
• 38:48
  Yeah. Having realized their mistake, Misty called her mother to inform her that she had missed the bus
• 38:55
  and needed a ride home. Though Misty's mother Diana had gone along with the girls' white lie to
• 39:03
  Trina's parents about escorting them both ways, she truly was unable to leave her post at work.
• 39:10
  I mean, she's caring for a woman that's, you know, over 90 years old. Yeah.
• 39:16
  She always worked nights as a caregiver to that elderly woman. So Misty knew that that was the
• 39:25
  situation. So Diana told her daughter Misty that she needed to go through the electronic organizer.
• 39:33
  She purchased for her recently and find either a family member or friend that would be able to give
• 39:39
  her a lift. Because obviously the bus is no longer an option. Diana and her daughter had actually
• 39:47
  hit a rough patch or two as she entered her teen years. Particularly after one fight over the summer
• 39:54
  in 1992, which led to Diana filing a missing persons report. Some say by mistake or an error,
• 40:03
  but in the end later she was too embarrassed to reach out to law enforcement to cancel the report.
• 40:09
  Which to law enforcement would later look like a little bit of a red flag. Maybe this is a kid that
• 40:16
  runs away from home frequently. But the fact that law enforcement had failed to follow up a single
• 40:24
  time in the months that followed on a report of a missing young girl would be lost on some people.
• 40:32
  Oh. Yeah. Interesting. It's September at this point. Wow. So the fact that the police are not aware
• 40:43
  that Misty did in fact make it home. I think that's kind of on them personally. But all that they
• 40:52
  would see was a woman struggling with what most would describe as functional alcoholism.
• 40:59
  Diana appeared to be a problem drinker with multiple DUIs and a conviction for welfare fraud on her
• 41:08
  record for which she was able to negotiate a deferred sentence. She was a single mother doing what she
• 41:16
  had to in order to support her daughter holding down a job providing her a nice home. I mean, I think
• 41:26
  certainly maybe some of that stuff didn't work in her favor, but also Diana's not on trial here.
• 41:34
  She's, you know, she has a missing child. Yeah. In fact, Diana's current position had enabled her to
• 41:43
  buy Misty a nice stereo and new clothes as they entered the school year. Misty attended Spanaway
• 41:51
  Lake, junior high that fall. And by all appearances, she was a happy, healthy and overall well-adjusted teenager.
• 42:02
  But as the days festivities were winding down for the girls at the fair and the dusky sky was
• 42:07
  settling in on the valley, Misty was still left in need of a ride back to her home in Spanaway.
• 42:14
  It was already getting dark and it was certainly too far to walk even in such pleasant summer weather.
• 42:22
  It's believed that as Misty worked through the names and her electronic organizer, she did ask
• 42:29
  her friend Rheuban Schmidt for a ride, but he claimed he didn't have enough gas to pick her up.
• 42:35
  Getting a ride from Rheuban would have been in direct conflict with her mother's wishes at the time,
• 42:44
  but it seems that without transport, Misty thought it was worth a shot. Certainly that might have
• 42:51
  been more appealing than some of the other alternatives. Rheuban, for his part, was an 18-year-old high school dropout
• 43:02
  that Misty's mother did not approve of and with good reason. He drove a green 1974 Chevy Nova,
• 43:13
  but more importantly, he also had a crush on Misty. Diana was made very uncomfortable by what
• 43:21
  she overheard Rheuban saying to Misty on a particular phone call. It was super cringe,
• 43:28
  and you didn't need to be her mom to think so. Honestly, I felt very embarrassed on his behalf.
• 43:35
  Misty had remained friends with Rheuban despite her mother's disapproval, but she did not return his
• 43:43
  feelings. She was not interested. I mean, he's older, like a lot older. He's like a man. I mean,
• 43:53
  it's all relative, but not 10. Oh, how old is she? Yeah, I think she would have been 14. I mean,
• 44:02
  either way, 13, 14, like, you know, that's too young. Like, I'm sorry. Like legally, it's too young.
• 44:10
  That's not an opinion. The payphone she called her mom from was just a couple of blocks from the fair,
• 44:18
  right outside the police department. Oh, nonetheless, this particular evening quickly became every
• 44:28
  parents' worst nightmare. That fact just makes it all the more bizarre that Misty has never been
• 44:36
  seen alive again since the night of the fair. And no one knows exactly what happened to her after
• 44:43
  parting ways with Trina. Oh, no. Trina actually lived close enough to where the fair took place
• 44:52
  that she said she just intended to walk home. It would come to light, I think, quite sometime later,
• 45:01
  that actually she had her boyfriend come and pick her up and drive her home. I believe they said he
• 45:10
  was 23. Holy shit, but what's happening? Yeah. Despite her mother's concerns and the fact that some
• 45:24
  had argued there was a potential link to more than one repeated violent offender and even a serial
• 45:31
  killer, the police were insistent that Misty was a runaway. Of course they were. But as wild as all
• 45:40
  of that sounds, we won't get into any of it until part two. Okay, I'm good with the break. Yeah,
• 45:48
  you threw a lot at me here. Yeah. Can we go back to the burgers? Yeah, I know. Can we go back to
• 45:56
  the burgers? Can we have like some cotton candy at the fair? I'm hungry again. Yeah. We do. No, I'm not. Oh,
• 46:04
  man. Yeah, no, I'm not either. Yeah, totally. Yeah. I don't know what is in the water up there in
• 46:11
  Puyallup, but I mean, I'm sure it's not just there. No, a lot of scumbag men in the world who want to date
• 46:21
  little girls. Yeah. That's disgusting. And we haven't even gotten to the actual convicted
• 46:29
  violent sexual offenders or there's technically multiple serial killers that were active in this
• 46:36
  area at the time that only one of which makes a very compelling potential suspect, but oh, wow.
• 46:49
  So you're telling me it's unsolved and no one knows exactly what happened to her after parting
• 46:55
  ways with Trina. Oh, I mean, that could mean it's they know who killed her, but they don't know what
• 47:00
  happened or I don't know. No one knows exactly what I'm trying to think of the best possible scenario.
• 47:07
  Yeah, no, it's this is definitely an unsolved. The really good news is that we are going to get to
• 47:16
  talk about a couple of other solved cases. Okay. You are not going to like any of them. Like either way,
• 47:24
  I'm not going to like any of it. So no, I mean, the more bad people put away, I guess it's best, but
• 47:33
  yeah, none of it's good. It's not great. That's for sure. You ready to do some tarot? I'm like, can we do
• 47:41
  something else? Yeah, yeah, yeah, she would very much like that. Let's do some Tiro. Okay.
• 47:46
  Wow, that sounds it's very. I had a coffee and a match up today. Yeah, you're out of control.
• 47:55
  I'm going to flip to a page and see if it's the card we've all. Oh my gosh, no pressure or anything.
• 48:01
  No pressure. It's just like if it works, it works. It doesn't. Who cares? It's just going to be an
• 48:07
  interesting little test. Okay, testies here. You want a shuffle? Yeah, I do.
• 48:14
  Power power is in the deck. Okay.
• 48:20
  Right from the middle. Wow. I always do. What is it? Oh, God. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, it's a dead bird.
• 48:35
  I'm assuming the three of swords. Oh, the three of swords. That makes sense.
• 48:43
  It's a dead birdy We'll look up the bird, but it's got a bunch of rose petals around it. Let's see
• 48:50
  what page I turned. Oh, I was way off. I was on the Queen of Pentacles. Yeah, you never know.
• 48:55
  Basically the same. It's a beaver. It would be. I figured the beaver. I'm going to read the
• 49:04
  keywords. Keywords are okay. Well, pretty much what you would expect. Suffering, heartache, regret,
• 49:12
  grieving, sorrow and loss. I have trauma and betrayal on here too, as well. Great. I don't know if you
• 49:21
  said either of those. Nope. Okay. Glad we had those to add to the batch. Trauma all around the town.
• 49:28
  Yeah, trauma. That's, yeah, it's an interesting one. Oh, boy. Do you want another bird? Yeah. Western
• 49:35
  Tanager. Tanager. Tanager. I don't know. I'm going to have to look that up. I have no idea.
• 49:43
  Yeah, like if I had honestly, that looks like someone, like those funny videos where they show
• 49:52
  people googling stuff spelled really terribly wrong. We did a lot of googling in this episode. We did.
• 49:59
  That's funny. It looks like somebody trying to Google teenager, but like horribly wrong, almost
• 50:07
  the way this is spelled. I don't know. Yeah, that's weird. Just looking at this heart with three
• 50:13
  swords piercing it is painful. And honestly, just to look at that one, it's painful.
• 50:18
  Birdy. One of the saddest cards in the tarot. It symbolizes deep emotional pain, heartbreak,
• 50:27
  and a real or perceived tragedy. You may not manage to avoid the suffering indicated by the three
• 50:35
  of swords. However, the card advises separating true grief from self-pity. The upright three
• 50:44
  signifies separation, severing a connection to something or someone you love.
• 50:50
  You feel isolated and cut off from something you found meaningful. A way of life, your home and
• 50:58
  family, a philosophy, pursuit, or job. It's like literally what you're talking about with people
• 51:06
  that went to the camps. Something in your life has died. Oh, yep. Yeah.
• 51:14
  Usually because it has lost its meaning or run its course and you need to let it go.
• 51:19
  There's an extra excerpt. Okay. The soul is a diamond in the rough, which must abide the
• 51:38
  blows inflicted by suffering in order to shine in all its brilliance. In a reading about money,
• 51:48
  the upright three represents losses due to relying on your rational mind or your emotions alone.
• 51:54
  You need to use both to avoid problems. Sometimes it suggests someone you trusted has with
• 52:02
  drawn support or you're grieving the loss of better times. If the reading is about your work,
• 52:09
  this card can mean losing a job you loved or you feel isolated and unhappy in your job.
• 52:17
  Maybe you regret an unwise business decision or you're thwarted, unable to do the work you enjoy.
• 52:26
  Try to see this as a sign. It's time for a change.
• 52:32
  In a reading about love, the upright three can represent a split with a partner or at least a
• 52:41
  sense of separation and despair. If the relationship is worth salvaging, heal the gap with compassion
• 52:49
  and understanding. In some cases, this card says it's time to move on.
• 52:58
  Wow. I mean, there was a lot there. Yeah, that's crazy.
• 53:04
  You've got the book out like you want to read a part of it. I mean, yeah, I can read this.
• 53:09
  I want to read the little interpretation. Yeah. Tanager. That's how we're going to go with it.
• 53:16
  Yep. We don't know. The Tanager, saying as he world through the sky, the sun shown on his back,
• 53:24
  causing his already bright plumage to iridesse, iridesse, iridesse, to iridesse into a million
• 53:33
  glowing hues of gold, red and violet. His heartbeat in a rapid tempo of elation as he dove
• 53:42
  toward the ground and spiraled back in an updraft. Spiral back on an updraft, not an updraft,
• 53:50
  but something. Yeah. As he flitted around the trees and buildings, his eye caught a gleam of gold.
• 53:58
  A light as bright as pure as perfectly suited to him as his own reflection.
• 54:04
  With each momentary glimpse, the songbird adjusted his course toward the gleaming light
• 54:10
  until he was flying straight towards it. Don't fly towards the light. You know,
• 54:18
  the glimmers of gold opened up into silver's reds, violets, and pure white as he darted toward the
• 54:25
  light. It consumed his field of vision as he approached and he opened his wings to meet it,
• 54:31
  to be welcomed into its embrace. The moment of impact came too fast, even to be a shock.
• 54:42
  And the light faded into darkness. Got, I literally cannot fucking duck. In the light faded to
• 54:49
  darkness before the teenager hit the ground. Wow. Okay. It kind of like when it was talking about
• 55:01
  all the colors and like the flying around, it like was like fair vibes. Yeah. Like they're having
• 55:07
  the time of their lives and then all of a sudden like, yeah, definitely like in that first part of
• 55:14
  the excerpt, it's like a very, you know, it's like this exalted portrait of like that taste of freedom
• 55:22
  and fun. The part that's a little bit strange to me is that there are some additional references to
• 55:34
  specific colors that we'll talk about in part two that even as I'm saying that there were things
• 55:47
  I hadn't remembered that now are coming up like okay. Wow. The whole like color thing is interesting
• 55:57
  too because we were literally talking about this Google sign and I was like, oh, look at all the
• 56:01
  different colors that are in it. And I'm like, should we take like get a bunch of different colored
• 56:05
  crystals that kind of like go with it? Oh my gosh. Yeah. It's interesting. I have to tell I'm going
• 56:14
  to do it offline, but I have to tell you there's there's something that's really actually kind of
• 56:20
  freaky about some of the color, some of the like symbolic or I would say more so some of the imagery
• 56:27
  and how it ties into kind of these minute details of part two. Oh boy. Yeah. Oh, that's
• 56:39
  it's actually kind of it's freaky me out. It's super interesting too how like the bird was blinded
• 56:46
  by the sun and it like couldn't see what was coming. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure. Yeah. I mean, I hope she
• 56:55
  didn't like see what was coming, you know. Yeah. Whatever that was. Yeah. I mean, none of it
• 57:04
  is likely to have been good. Unfortunately. Well, this is sad. I feel like we have had like a really
• 57:15
  sad one in a while. I mean, we've had like sad ones, but I don't know. Yeah. This one was pretty heavy.
• 57:22
  Yeah. I guess the last one we did do was heavy. I'm just blocking them out. Yeah. Yeah. Last one kind
• 57:28
  of personal. Yeah. This one is just very fresh. So it's yeah. Yeah. No. Good Lord. Should we go
• 57:37
  have a sleepover? Yeah. Slumber party. Yeah. Yeah. And we get to go chat with Caitlin. Yeah. Yeah.
• 57:47
  I got to Caitlin. Oh, let's face it. Most people can barely handle the one. Technically, I have three.
• 57:55
  That's true. Oh my god. Swimming and Caitlin. I'm a Caitlin collector. If you are a Caitlin,
• 58:02
  slide into my DMs and I will collect you. Oh boy. Okay. On that note.
• 58:09
  Are we going to say our thing? Yeah. Let's do a cap.
• 58:15
  Have a creepy ass day. See you next Tuesday.
• 58:21
  For part two on Tuesday. Unless you're a Caitlin, because then she'll see you soon.
• 58:43
  Okay. I've got a couple of pronunciations that I'm going to have to look up. What? Yeah.
• 58:47
  Caitlin, you didn't do this beforehand. I did for some of them and then some of them I was like,
• 58:53
  I'm going to have to hear it right before I say it. You know, I'm like obviously kidding,
• 58:58
  because of what happened with Ireland. What happened with Ireland? I know I'm kidding because of what
• 59:05
  happened with Ireland. Doesn't that make us sound like kind of cool? Yeah it does. We pissed off Ireland
• 59:12
  and do all. You can piss off all of Ireland. Pnwhauntsandhomicides.com