Latest / Gone Cold - Texas True Crime / The Highway Murder of Amanda Clairmont
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: The Gone Cold. Podcasts may contain violent or graphics subject matter.
- 0:06Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised. Corinth, Texas, is located about six
- 0:12Speaker 1: miles southeast of the city of Denton and about eighteen
- 0:16Speaker 1: miles northwest of the Dallas city limits. Like many cities
- 0:21Speaker 1: and towns throughout Texas and the United States, Corinth was
- 0:25Speaker 1: founded in the late nineteenth century as the result of
- 0:28Speaker 1: a railway being built through the area, specifically the Dallas
- 0:32Speaker 1: and Wichital Railway. The city remained a mostly agriculturally based
- 0:38Speaker 1: community and economy for a majority of its existence. Corinth's
- 0:43Speaker 1: population was always steadily increasing, but only modestly, and it
- 0:48Speaker 1: remained relatively low until the two thousands, when the North
- 0:52Speaker 1: Texas region began its perpetual population boom. Though the city
- 0:58Speaker 1: of roughly twenty one thousand as well within Denton County limits,
- 1:02Speaker 1: the Dallas for Worth Metroplex has laid claim to Corinth
- 1:06Speaker 1: in its seemingly insatiable need to grow, and the small
- 1:10Speaker 1: city serves as more a suburb of Dallas than of
- 1:13Speaker 1: the much closer city of Denton. Corinth shares Lewisville Lake
- 1:19Speaker 1: with the town of Lake Dallas to its southeast and
- 1:23Speaker 1: shady shores to the northeast. All these communities are considered safe,
- 1:28Speaker 1: with Corinth reported to be among the best most sought
- 1:32Speaker 1: after places to live in in the state of Texas.
- 1:36Speaker 1: Violent crime in the small city is low, about eighty
- 1:40Speaker 1: five percent lower than the national average in twenty seventeen.
- 1:45Speaker 1: In fact, Corinth police hadn't investigated a homicide case in
- 1:49Speaker 1: sixteen years since the deaths of University of Texas Vice
- 1:54Speaker 1: President of Development Mark s. Moore and his girlfriend Sylvia Huffman. Hunt.
- 2:01Speaker 1: That changed when Corinth police officers stopped to investigate an
- 2:05Speaker 1: out of place vehicle parked against a fence in a
- 2:08Speaker 1: vacant lot on a cold November morning in twenty seventeen.
- 2:13Speaker 1: The vacant parking lot, located on the fifty seven hundred
- 2:17Speaker 1: block of Interstate thirty five East's service Road, surrounded remnants
- 2:22Speaker 1: of where a structure once stood. Dirt, overgrown weeds, and
- 2:27Speaker 1: trees now took its place. The lot was next to
- 2:31Speaker 1: a Nissan car dealership to the northwest, the interstate to
- 2:35Speaker 1: the northeast and east, and residential housing every other direction,
- 2:40Speaker 1: some separated by small fields or thickets. The vehicle certainly
- 2:46Speaker 1: did not belong in the lot, no vehicle did really.
- 2:50Speaker 1: When officers came nearer and discovered that the car was
- 2:53Speaker 1: in fact lodged in the fence with the headlights still
- 2:57Speaker 1: on and the passenger door opened, the day discovery became
- 3:01Speaker 1: even more suspicious. The officers exited the patrol car and
- 3:06Speaker 1: approached the suspicious vehicle. They were AGAs to find a
- 3:10Speaker 1: young woman in the driver's seat, unresponsive with what appeared
- 3:14Speaker 1: to be several gunshot wounds. The woman was pronounced dead
- 3:19Speaker 1: on the scene shortly thereafter by responding medical authorities. She
- 3:24Speaker 1: was later identified as twenty one year old Amanda Claremont.
- 3:53Speaker 1: Amanda Marie Claremont was born on April twenty fifth, nineteen
- 3:57Speaker 1: ninety six, to parents Kathy and Jeffrey, in Aurora, Illinois.
- 4:02Speaker 1: Her parents had been married for three years when Amanda
- 4:05Speaker 1: was born, and tragically, they'd only be married for nine more.
- 4:10Speaker 1: Cathy died of cancer in May of two thousand and five.
- 4:14Speaker 1: Amanda attended school in Sandwich, Illinois, until a couple years
- 4:18Speaker 1: after her mother's death, when she moved with family members
- 4:22Speaker 1: to McKinney, Texas, and then Frisco. In Frisco, Amanda attended
- 4:28Speaker 1: Liberty High School where she eventually graduated. She was a
- 4:33Speaker 1: well liked and popular student there. Friends of her said
- 4:37Speaker 1: Amanda was genuine and artistic, and the untimely death of
- 4:41Speaker 1: her mother, unfortunately, though inevitably, matured her well beyond her years.
- 4:47Speaker 1: She was undeniably compassionate and empathetic. Just after graduating high
- 4:53Speaker 1: school in the fall of twenty fourteen, Amanda enrolled at
- 4:57Speaker 1: North Texas University in d where she majored in business
- 5:02Speaker 1: with an interest in religious studies. At eighteen years old,
- 5:06Speaker 1: Amanda took a job at Nordstrom department store at Stonebrier
- 5:10Speaker 1: Mall in Frisco. There she was learning the finer points
- 5:14Speaker 1: of the art of makeup and cosmetology, which was a
- 5:18Speaker 1: passion of hers. In August twenty seventeen, now a senior
- 5:23Speaker 1: at unt, Amanda lived a comfortable distance from campus, but
- 5:28Speaker 1: still close to the social life that the university town
- 5:31Speaker 1: of Denton provided. Amanda's older brother, Mike, later commented that
- 5:36Speaker 1: his sister wasn't a big drinker, but there's no doubt
- 5:40Speaker 1: she quickly became a fixture on the after hour's scene.
- 5:44Speaker 1: Amanda loved to dance and was often seen at parties
- 5:48Speaker 1: and bars dancing the night away. Her unmistakable head of big, curly,
- 5:54Speaker 1: usually very blonde hair was impossible to miss. Her friend,
- 5:59Speaker 1: Megan Kahn called her a campus celebrity if only for
- 6:03Speaker 1: that hair on the dance floor. In early November twenty seventeen,
- 6:08Speaker 1: the young business major created an Instagram account to show
- 6:12Speaker 1: off her abilities in the art of makeup. Her plan
- 6:16Speaker 1: was to get a following and start earning income as
- 6:19Speaker 1: a freelance makeup artist in the North Texas area. One
- 6:23Speaker 1: photo posted to her then newly created Instagram site started
- 6:28Speaker 1: with a greeting, Hello, beautiful people, and went on to
- 6:31Speaker 1: offer her services, with other photos following as a testament
- 6:35Speaker 1: to her talent. And she was talented, but there was
- 6:39Speaker 1: more to her than that. Amanda's brother later commented that
- 6:43Speaker 1: she loved that particular line of work because it made
- 6:46Speaker 1: people feel good about themselves, something that the young woman
- 6:50Speaker 1: was passionate about. On her way to realizing her dreams,
- 6:55Speaker 1: Amanda helped out plenty folks once a young couple who
- 6:59Speaker 1: couldn't afford them makeup for their wedding, But Amanda Claremont
- 7:03Speaker 1: was murdered before she got the chance to fully realize
- 7:07Speaker 1: her dreams. On Saturday, November eighteenth, twenty seventeen, twenty one
- 7:14Speaker 1: year old Amanda Claremont was out doing what University of
- 7:18Speaker 1: North Texas students have been doing to unwind for decades,
- 7:23Speaker 1: bar hopping on Fry Street. There are many bars along
- 7:27Speaker 1: Fry Street and the surrounding blocks, and though police have
- 7:30Speaker 1: kept tight lipped about the specific establishments Amanda visited that night,
- 7:35Speaker 1: she is confirmed to have been seen with at least
- 7:38Speaker 1: one person, most often Amanda's brother Mike, was aware of
- 7:43Speaker 1: her activities because the two spoke frequently. Mike later said
- 7:48Speaker 1: that everything she did, she always, without fail talked to
- 7:52Speaker 1: him about it. Mike, however, was unaware of Amanda's plans
- 7:58Speaker 1: that evening. In Corinth. The following morning, Sunday, November nineteenth,
- 8:04Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, at six a m. In a vacant parking
- 8:08Speaker 1: lot off Interstate thirty five, Corinth Patrol officers discovered Amanda
- 8:13Speaker 1: deceased in her vehicle. The vehicle's headlights were on the
- 8:18Speaker 1: passenger side door ajar, and the car lodged in a fence.
- 8:23Speaker 1: The vacant lot was about eight miles away from the
- 8:25Speaker 1: Frees Street district, around a twelve minute drive in normal traffic.
- 8:32Speaker 1: An investigation into the death of Amanda Claremont, of course,
- 8:36Speaker 1: proceeded immediately. Little is known about what the Corinth police discovered,
- 8:41Speaker 1: but it seems it wasn't much. Law enforcement did say
- 8:45Speaker 1: that they determined Amanda pulled into the parking lot the
- 8:48Speaker 1: previous night in a dark colored vehicle which belonged to her.
- 8:53Speaker 1: Police refused to disclose details of the car, further, citing
- 8:57Speaker 1: that any more information made public might jeopardized their investigation,
- 9:02Speaker 1: nor would they disclose details about another vehicle thought to
- 9:05Speaker 1: be involved, beyond that it was read and that Amanda
- 9:09Speaker 1: spoke with the occupant or occupants of the car shortly
- 9:12Speaker 1: after pulling into the vacant parking lot. Not long after
- 9:17Speaker 1: she did, gunfire erupted. The precise number of gunshot wounds
- 9:22Speaker 1: Amanda suffered too, was withheld by Corinth police. However, Denton's newspaper,
- 9:29Speaker 1: The Record Chronicle, spoke with a woman whose home is
- 9:33Speaker 1: near the vacant lot, and she reported to them that
- 9:35Speaker 1: she heard four gunshots somewhere in the vicinity sometime between
- 9:40Speaker 1: midnight and one am. The woman did not hear a
- 9:44Speaker 1: vehicle speeding off after a motive for Amanda Claremont's murder
- 9:49Speaker 1: could not be deduced. Police couldn't find anyone who disliked her.
- 9:54Speaker 1: An ex boyfriend couldn't be eliminated, the Denton Record Chronicle reported,
- 9:59Speaker 1: but he we also couldn't be implicated in any way.
- 10:03Speaker 1: Amanda had a restraining order against an ex boyfriend for
- 10:07Speaker 1: stalking and breaking and entering into her apartment while she
- 10:11Speaker 1: slept and taking pictures of her. Some sources claim it's
- 10:16Speaker 1: unclear if this is the same boyfriend, who police can
- 10:19Speaker 1: neither rule in nor out. There is little doubt that
- 10:23Speaker 1: the detectives at the Corinth Police Department were taking on
- 10:27Speaker 1: a role they weren't used to, as homicide investigations were
- 10:30Speaker 1: few and far in between there the last time they
- 10:34Speaker 1: had one. In fact, it was steeped in controversy. The
- 10:51Speaker 1: last case investigated as a homicide in Corinthe before Amanda Claremont's,
- 10:56Speaker 1: was sixteen years before and not without its problems. Monday
- 11:02Speaker 1: May twenty first, two thousand and one, after forty eight
- 11:06Speaker 1: year old Mark S Moore failed to arrive at work
- 11:09Speaker 1: on the campus of the University of North Texas or UNT,
- 11:14Speaker 1: two colleagues traveled to his home at the Oakmont country
- 11:17Speaker 1: Club Estates in nearby Corinth to check on him. Moore
- 11:22Speaker 1: was the enthusiastic and incredibly successful vice president for New
- 11:27Speaker 1: Development at the college, and his absence was out of
- 11:30Speaker 1: the ordinary enough for folks to get worried. Inside Moore's home,
- 11:35Speaker 1: in the bedroom, his colleagues found an unbelievable scene the
- 11:40Speaker 1: body of a man, the unt official himself, and the
- 11:44Speaker 1: body of a woman later identified as forty five year
- 11:47Speaker 1: old Sylvia Huffman hunt Moore's girlfriend. Covers were pulled over
- 11:52Speaker 1: their bodies and pillows laid atop their heads. Corinth police
- 11:57Speaker 1: officers arrived at the scene at a proximately nine am
- 12:01Speaker 1: and quickly noticed there were no signs of forced entry.
- 12:05Speaker 1: A handgun was found there under the covers, and both
- 12:08Speaker 1: victims had been shot. It appeared they'd been dead several days.
- 12:14Speaker 1: The call wasn't only shocking because of the neighborhood, an
- 12:17Speaker 1: affluent development on a golf course, but also because the
- 12:21Speaker 1: city of Corinth hadn't seen a homicide in twelve years.
- 12:26Speaker 1: Although every immediate indication pointed to a murder suicide scenario,
- 12:31Speaker 1: detectives began working the case as a murder investigation, simply
- 12:35Speaker 1: as a matter of eliminating that possibility first standard procedure.
- 12:41Speaker 1: Neighbors told the cops that more often through loud parties
- 12:45Speaker 1: that lasted into the early morning hours. Essentially, one neighbor
- 12:49Speaker 1: commented college parties. A strange car was parked at the
- 12:54Speaker 1: residents the previous Friday, police learned. Friends and family told
- 12:59Speaker 1: investigators that neither More nor Hunt would go through with suicide,
- 13:04Speaker 1: let alone perform a murder suicide. One thing was clear.
- 13:09Speaker 1: Everyone who knew them believed someone else had killed them.
- 13:14Speaker 1: The results of the autopsy, carried out by Mark Krauss
- 13:17Speaker 1: at the Arrant County Medical Examiner's Office seemed to only
- 13:21Speaker 1: back up these beliefs. Moore had two gunshot wounds to
- 13:25Speaker 1: his head, one to his temple and another in his mouth.
- 13:30Speaker 1: Hunt had one in her chest. The bullet went through
- 13:33Speaker 1: her heart. The following month, after toxicology reports and results
- 13:38Speaker 1: of gunshot residue tests came back, the Corinth Police Department
- 13:43Speaker 1: determined their first instinct to be true that Sylvia Hunt
- 13:47Speaker 1: killed Mark. Moore cleaned the house and then climbed into
- 13:51Speaker 1: bed next to Mark's body and turned the gun on herself.
- 13:56Speaker 1: The families of both victims were shocked they had made concerns.
- 14:01Speaker 1: Police initially told them that Moore died at around nine
- 14:05Speaker 1: pm the friday before the bodies were found, and that
- 14:08Speaker 1: Hunt died at ten am the next morning. They knew
- 14:12Speaker 1: this didn't necessarily negate the determination, but it seemed unusual. Nonetheless,
- 14:19Speaker 1: why did she wait so long to turn the gun
- 14:21Speaker 1: on herself, relatives wondered, And why clean Moore's home if
- 14:26Speaker 1: that's the answer. Hunt's fingerprints could not be found on
- 14:30Speaker 1: the gun. A partial palm print couldn't be matched to
- 14:34Speaker 1: either of the deceased, but police said it could not
- 14:38Speaker 1: be excluded from belonging to Hunt. Family members wondered how
- 14:44Speaker 1: if she shot herself, the jolt hadn't moved the pillow
- 14:47Speaker 1: from her face. The heat inside the home had been
- 14:51Speaker 1: turned all the way up, another baffling detail in a
- 14:55Speaker 1: murder suicide, Almost as baffling as the notion she cleaned
- 14:59Speaker 1: the the entire house after killing Moore, and of course,
- 15:03Speaker 1: before shooting herself. It was the aut of character, emotional attachment,
- 15:09Speaker 1: and responses necessary for the official version to be true. However,
- 15:14Speaker 1: that had friends and family confused the most. Moore and
- 15:18Speaker 1: Hunt had only been dating for three months, they said,
- 15:22Speaker 1: adding that they felt that simply was not enough time
- 15:25Speaker 1: to develop the emotional attachment required for Hunt to have
- 15:29Speaker 1: performed an act which was already at odds with her
- 15:32Speaker 1: otherwise easy going and amiable personality. She'd had passed serious relationships,
- 15:39Speaker 1: one a marriage that lasted twenty years, but no history
- 15:43Speaker 1: of emotional instability during any arguments or breakups, certainly no violence,
- 15:49Speaker 1: those who knew her, said many close to Hunt didn't
- 15:53Speaker 1: even know she was dating More, suggesting perhaps the relationship
- 15:58Speaker 1: hadn't reached a level where a murder suicide was in
- 16:01Speaker 1: the cards. Police relied on the fact that there was
- 16:05Speaker 1: no forced entry, but others commented that it was well
- 16:08Speaker 1: known More kept a key under his doormat. Also, Sylvia Hunt,
- 16:14Speaker 1: the investigation apparently determined, had fired the bullet into her
- 16:18Speaker 1: own chest using her left hand and not her dominant right.
- 16:24Speaker 1: The investigation, according to at least one family member, was sloppy,
- 16:29Speaker 1: and Sylvia Hunt's car wasn't even checked for fingerprints. While
- 16:34Speaker 1: her purse was found in the vehicle, her wallet and
- 16:37Speaker 1: driver's license were never found. But no fact of the
- 16:41Speaker 1: case cast doubt on the official findings more than the
- 16:45Speaker 1: presence of a woman named Josie Tran the friday evening
- 16:49Speaker 1: before Moore and Hunt were shot to death. Trans presence
- 16:54Speaker 1: that night was discovered by police, but no attempts were
- 16:57Speaker 1: made to follow up on the lead. In September of
- 17:01Speaker 1: two thousand and one, at the request of family members
- 17:04Speaker 1: of both victims, Denton County District Attorney Bruce Isaacs began
- 17:09Speaker 1: a second investigation. Isaacs soon asked the Texas Rangers to
- 17:14Speaker 1: enter the case. Texas Ranger Tracy Murphrey didn't necessarily believe
- 17:19Speaker 1: the third party. Josie Trans claims that she saw and
- 17:23Speaker 1: took part in no confrontation the night Moore and Hunt
- 17:27Speaker 1: were slain. She and Moore were at the house eating
- 17:31Speaker 1: pizza and watching movies. Twenty one year old Tran said
- 17:35Speaker 1: when Hunt unexpectedly walked in the home using her key
- 17:39Speaker 1: earlier on the night of the deaths, which again were
- 17:42Speaker 1: separated by several hours. Apparently, Moore had been dating Tran
- 17:47Speaker 1: as well, who was described by the Dallas Morning News
- 17:51Speaker 1: as a former topless dancer, a confidante of Mark Moore.
- 17:56Speaker 1: In contrast to trans claims that there had been no confidence,
- 18:00Speaker 1: said Moore told him. Tran was upset about his dating
- 18:04Speaker 1: Sylvia Hunt. After almost a year of looking for her,
- 18:08Speaker 1: authorities finally tracked down Tran in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ranger Murphrey
- 18:14Speaker 1: said Josie Tran hadn't been running from the investigation. Rather,
- 18:19Speaker 1: her lifestyle and a warrant out for her arrest for
- 18:22Speaker 1: prostitution kept her on the move. He planned to give
- 18:26Speaker 1: her a polygraph examination, but for whatever reason. In January
- 18:30Speaker 1: of two thousand and three, more than a year and
- 18:33Speaker 1: a half after the officially determined murder suicide, he still hadn't.
- 18:39Speaker 1: Murphrey said, quote, Once we get that done, if it
- 18:42Speaker 1: checks out, we're going to be pretty much done with this.
- 18:45Speaker 1: We're basically polygraphing or just to make sure we're not
- 18:48Speaker 1: missing anything. If she fails, it will go from there
- 18:51Speaker 1: and interrogate her some more. Right now, unless something earth
- 18:56Speaker 1: shattering happens, it's not going to be any different than
- 18:59Speaker 1: what Corinth said, end quote. Seemingly, all of the family's
- 19:04Speaker 1: questions still lingered and won in particular, perhaps the most
- 19:09Speaker 1: perplexing detail. Earlier, on the day of the deaths of
- 19:13Speaker 1: Mark Moore and Sylvia Hunt, Friday May eighteenth, two thousand
- 19:17Speaker 1: and one, he'd come into the office of travel agent K.
- 19:21Speaker 1: Hull to reserve a ticket to Cartagena, Columbia. He'd be
- 19:26Speaker 1: back to pay for the trip on Monday, he told
- 19:28Speaker 1: the agent, But after Mark Moore died and before his
- 19:33Speaker 1: and Hunt's body were found, someone called and canceled the trip.
- 19:38Speaker 1: Although Hull attempted to report this to police early on,
- 19:42Speaker 1: her calls were not returned. In two thousand and three,
- 19:46Speaker 1: as he sought Josie Tran for a polygraph examination, Texas
- 19:50Speaker 1: Ranger Tracy Murphrey had yet to speak with travel agent K. Hull.
- 19:55Speaker 1: It's unclear if he ever did. It's also unknown if
- 19:59Speaker 1: Josie Tran was ever given a polygraph examination, and whether
- 20:03Speaker 1: any of the inconsistencies were ever sufficiently addressed. The lack
- 20:08Speaker 1: of a long term emotional attachment between Sylvia Hunt and
- 20:12Speaker 1: Mark Moore, the facts that she shot herself using her
- 20:15Speaker 1: less dominant hand, that she cleaned the house before shooting herself,
- 20:20Speaker 1: that the heat was turned all the way up in
- 20:22Speaker 1: the home, presumably to speed up decomposition, the matter of
- 20:26Speaker 1: Hunt's missing wallet and driver's license, and the fact that
- 20:30Speaker 1: Moore's travel tickets were canceled before his body was found,
- 20:34Speaker 1: but after he died, all seemed to be questions unanswered.
- 20:39Speaker 1: The investigation, though the cases certainly not connected, is perhaps
- 20:44Speaker 1: relevant to that of Amanda Claremont's sixteen years later, at
- 20:48Speaker 1: least insomuch as both investigations were performed by the same agency.
- 21:06Speaker 1: It's been reported that both the Texas Rangers and FBI
- 21:10Speaker 1: entered the Amanda Claremont case at some point early on.
- 21:15Speaker 1: Little is known about the details of the initial investigation.
- 21:20Speaker 1: The Corinth Police Department claim the case has never gone cold,
- 21:24Speaker 1: and they have released more details in the subsequent years.
- 21:28Speaker 1: A little less than a year and a half after
- 21:31Speaker 1: Amanda Claremont was found deceased in her vehicle in a
- 21:34Speaker 1: vacant lot in Corinth, Texas, in February of twenty nineteen,
- 21:39Speaker 1: investigator Mike Alexander commented that the department was piecing together
- 21:44Speaker 1: the information and evidence they had and hopes to present
- 21:47Speaker 1: it to the Denton County District Attorney. Though they've never
- 21:51Speaker 1: confirmed this suggests a suspect. Investigator Alexander made a plea
- 21:57Speaker 1: for further information, asking any one who might have seen
- 22:01Speaker 1: anything that night, either in the vacant lot or Fry
- 22:05Speaker 1: Street or anywhere else to come forward with what they know,
- 22:08Speaker 1: no matter how insignificant they might think it is. The investigation,
- 22:13Speaker 1: he said, stretched beyond Corinth and even Denton County. The
- 22:19Speaker 1: Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Texas Rangers, and the Terrant
- 22:23Speaker 1: County Medical Examiner have all into helping hand to Corinth
- 22:27Speaker 1: Police Chief Jerry Garner said, but the department needs the
- 22:31Speaker 1: public's help as well. Chief Garner was adamant that they
- 22:35Speaker 1: wouldn't stop until they found Amanda Claremont's killer, stating that
- 22:39Speaker 1: a homicide case was something his department will never give
- 22:43Speaker 1: up on. He didn't want to be one of those
- 22:46Speaker 1: agencies with a cold case. The investigation, he said, in
- 22:51Speaker 1: May of twenty twenty, was active, and he reiterated earlier
- 22:55Speaker 1: pleas for information from the public that there was an
- 22:59Speaker 1: individual or multiple individuals responsible out there who hadn't faced
- 23:04Speaker 1: consequences didn't sit right with the chief, he said, and
- 23:08Speaker 1: Amanda Claremont deserves justice. Police were sure to point out
- 23:13Speaker 1: that they had no reason to believe the young woman's
- 23:15Speaker 1: murderer poses a continued threat to the community, a sentence
- 23:20Speaker 1: that is hard to make sense of if actually given
- 23:23Speaker 1: any thought. Though the Corinth Police say that Amanda Claremont's
- 23:28Speaker 1: murder case hasn't gone cold. They're pleas for information from
- 23:32Speaker 1: the public. Suggests that it indeed has, but the Corinth
- 23:36Speaker 1: Police Department's hope the public will come forward remains intact.
- 23:43Speaker 1: In August of twenty twenty one, the Corinth Police announced
- 23:46Speaker 1: they believe technology finally allowed them to determine the make
- 23:50Speaker 1: and model of the truck the driver of which Amanda
- 23:53Speaker 1: Claremont is thought to have spoke with before she was
- 23:56Speaker 1: shot to death. It was a red or maroon nineteen
- 23:59Speaker 1: nine ninety nine to two thousand and two Chevrolet Silverado
- 24:03Speaker 1: extended cab pickup or a red or maroon nineteen ninety
- 24:07Speaker 1: nine to two thousand and six GMC Sierra extended cab pickup,
- 24:12Speaker 1: they reported. However, technology apparently got even better. In twenty
- 24:18Speaker 1: twenty two, the Corinth Police said the vehicle was a
- 24:21Speaker 1: red two thousand and seven to twenty thirteen Toyota Tundra.
- 24:28Speaker 1: For area residents, Amanda's case brought back recent memories of
- 24:32Speaker 1: another young Denton college student who was murdered in twenty sixteen.
- 24:37Speaker 1: There are circumstances between the cases that seem eerily similar.
- 24:43Speaker 1: Jacqueline Vandergriff met a man at a Fries Street bar,
- 24:46Speaker 1: and after going to another bar and then the man's home,
- 24:50Speaker 1: Jacqueline's body was found dismembered and a blaze in a
- 24:53Speaker 1: park in Grapevine, Texas, the following day that case, fortunately
- 25:00Speaker 1: she was solved the madman responsible brought to justice, but
- 25:04Speaker 1: Amanda Claremont's murder less than a year later left a
- 25:07Speaker 1: feeling of uneasiness and likely fear in the hearts and
- 25:11Speaker 1: minds of area residents, particularly female students at the University
- 25:16Speaker 1: of North Texas and Texas Women's University. Friends of Amanda
- 25:22Speaker 1: Claremont have voiced online how her murder affected them. They
- 25:27Speaker 1: long for justice. One close friend stated too that they
- 25:32Speaker 1: believe police know who shot Amanda to death. The friend
- 25:36Speaker 1: says there is surveillance video of the twenty one year
- 25:39Speaker 1: old woman dropping off a person at a fraternity house
- 25:42Speaker 1: and driving away. The friends she dropped off presumably was
- 25:47Speaker 1: who she'd been seen with at Fry Street bars. It
- 25:51Speaker 1: wasn't long after that Amanda was killed. The Vocal Majority,
- 25:57Speaker 1: an all male choir from Dallas County, dedicated the song
- 26:01Speaker 1: Lord Bless You and Keep You to Amanda. A member
- 26:05Speaker 1: of the group was a close friend to her family.
- 26:08Speaker 1: In twenty twenty two, Amanda's father, Jeff told the Denton
- 26:12Speaker 1: Record Chronicle that the family feels they're in limbo due
- 26:15Speaker 1: to the lack of answers and that her murder has
- 26:18Speaker 1: ruined the lives of many who loved her. Her friend
- 26:23Speaker 1: Megan stressed the significance Amanda had on her life and
- 26:27Speaker 1: the irony that Amanda knew how fleeting life is. Amanda's brother, Mike,
- 26:33Speaker 1: commented that he was in complete disbelief when he heard
- 26:36Speaker 1: his sister had been killed. Not only were the two close,
- 26:40Speaker 1: but she was also, he said, the last living reminder
- 26:44Speaker 1: of his mother, who died twelve years before Amanda. I'm
- 26:49Speaker 1: pretty numb to death, but this has taken me to
- 26:51Speaker 1: a whole new level, Mike said. I just have a
- 26:55Speaker 1: lot of vengeance in my heart. I want this piece
- 26:58Speaker 1: of ship busted. We all do. Mike believes that if
- 27:03Speaker 1: Amanda's story stays alive in the community and continues to
- 27:07Speaker 1: be out in the open, someone might come forward with information.
- 27:12Speaker 1: If you know anything, or if you saw Amanda Marie
- 27:15Speaker 1: Claremont on the night of November eighteenth, twenty seventeen, please
- 27:20Speaker 1: call Corinth Police at nine four zero two seven nine
- 27:25Speaker 1: one five zero zero. Submit anonymous tips to Denton County
- 27:30Speaker 1: Crime Stoppers by calling eight hundred three eight eight tips
- 27:34Speaker 1: or eight hundred three eight eight eight four seven seven.
- 27:39Speaker 1: You might also be You might also be eligible for
- 27:42Speaker 1: a reward. I'd like to take a moment to thank
- 27:46Speaker 1: our patrons this week. At the Panther City level. Thank
- 27:51Speaker 1: you Dan Ell, Monica, Eliza b Ashley, C, Becky H.
- 27:57Speaker 1: Bill Kay, Carrie M, Charlotte M. Citizen of Z, Darla E.
- 28:04Speaker 1: Jeffrey C. Katherine and Katherine Kara RS, Lashawna W, Melissa A,
- 28:12Speaker 1: Nikki P. Peaksy Raystyl W, Robert S, Sherry S. Stoga,
- 28:20Speaker 1: and Lossandra McGhee. Also special thanks to Laura H and
- 28:25Speaker 1: Peyton T. At the Clutch City level. Extra special thanks
- 28:30Speaker 1: to Christy R. For going above and beyond for so long.
- 28:34Speaker 1: If you'd like to join Gone Cold's mission to renew
- 28:37Speaker 1: the public's interest in unsolved homicides, missing persons cases, and
- 28:42Speaker 1: other perplexing mysteries, you can support the show and listen
- 28:46Speaker 1: ad free at patreon dot com Forward Slash Gone Cold Podcast.
- 28:52Speaker 1: You'll also find episodes exclusive to Patreon there with more
- 28:56Speaker 1: to come in the very near future. Words can express
- 29:00Speaker 1: how much we appreciate our patrons. Thank you so much
- 29:04Speaker 1: for your support. You can also support Gone Cold by
- 29:08Speaker 1: leaving a five star rating and written review on iTunes
- 29:12Speaker 1: and Apple podcasts. This will help the show reach more ears,
- 29:17Speaker 1: bettering the chance someone with information about a case will
- 29:21Speaker 1: listen and come forward. A rating and written review wherever
- 29:25Speaker 1: you listen is much appreciated. Thanks for listening, y'all.