Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Erie Final Video of Missing Coffee Shop Owner: Where's Amy Hilliard?

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Erie Final Video of Missing Coffee Shop Owner: Where's Amy Hilliard? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace and eerie and haunting final
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Speaker 1: video of a beloved Bay Area coffee shop owner. She
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Speaker 1: vanishes without a trace. Now very disturbing new clues found
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Speaker 1: inside her home. Where is coffee shop owner Amy Hilliard?
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Speaker 1: I'm Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. I want to
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Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. The last known sighting
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Speaker 1: and missing coffee shop owner has just been revealed. This
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Speaker 1: is her family desperately searches for her after she disappears
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Speaker 1: seemingly without a trace. It's a surveillance image showing Amy
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Speaker 1: Hilliard walking her family dog there in the Cleveland Heights
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Speaker 1: area near Oakland, and it's just before she seemingly vanishes
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Speaker 1: off the face of the earth. In the last days,
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Speaker 1: her family has hired a private investigator. What more do
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Speaker 1: we know about the disappearance of this beloved community fixture,
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Speaker 1: Amy Hilliard? Gorgeous, young, successful, very high profile in her neighborhood.
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Speaker 1: Everybody loves her coffee shop, extremely popular, Never a bad
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Speaker 1: word about Amy Hilliard. The community banning together to have
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Speaker 1: a vigil. She's disappeared days ago. Last scene, to my understanding,
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Speaker 1: in a public park. Where is she? Nobody? Nobody just
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Speaker 1: vanishes off the face of the earth. It's not like
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Speaker 1: we're in Harry Potter and you can operate somewhere else
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Speaker 1: that doesn't happen. Somebody knows where is Amy joining US
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Speaker 1: an All star panel. But first I want to go
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Speaker 1: straight out to Brian Fitzgibbons, Director Operations us A nation
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Speaker 1: wide Security. He leads a team of investigators that go
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Speaker 1: around the world searching for missing people and performing extractions
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Speaker 1: of missing people. Former Marine Iraqi Warvett. I hate it, hate, hate,
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Speaker 1: hate when someone says they just disappeared, like it's a
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Speaker 1: vanishing act. That's not what happened. And don't even start
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Speaker 1: with the typical down the road of she's a woman,
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Speaker 1: she's probably with her boyfriend. Do not even let the
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Speaker 1: words boyfriend or new boyfriend or alone time or me time,
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Speaker 1: our girls trip come out of your mouth, fits Gibbons.
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Speaker 2: I won't and what I'll say that you know, this
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Speaker 2: case is particularly alarming because of the time of day
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Speaker 2: that Amy Hilliard went missing. She was last seen at
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Speaker 2: her home around two PM, and then, according to reports,
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Speaker 2: was seen on surveillance footage around four four thirty in
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Speaker 2: Diamond Park in Oakland. Now, what's concerning here is she
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Speaker 2: left behind her phone at her house. So this is
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Speaker 2: not this is very atypical behavior for a missing person's.
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Speaker 1: Case, very creepy and very scary.
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Speaker 3: And it's you know, like I think it happens in
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Speaker 3: every neighborhood.
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Speaker 2: But it's also like frightening to think that someone just
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Speaker 2: disappeared from here.
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Speaker 1: And I really like hope she's okay. I hope her
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Speaker 1: family is okay.
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Speaker 4: Her husband Chris share that one of the things that
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Speaker 4: defines Amy, one of her favorite words is the word hope.
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Speaker 4: And so tonight we're expressing our hope that we find her.
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Speaker 4: Please review your video cameras for evidence of her walking
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Speaker 4: past your home. She loved hiking, she loved walking. It's
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Speaker 4: very possible that she could be on that video.
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Speaker 5: She'd be the one jumping in volunteering, leading volunteers, talking
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Speaker 5: to other people in the community, spreading the word, using
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Speaker 5: her talent to help like bring community closer together. It
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Speaker 5: seems crazy that she's not here tonight with.
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Speaker 1: Us from our friends A KGO and k r N.
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Speaker 1: Dave Mack with US Crime Stories investigative Reporter. Have you
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Speaker 1: seen Diamond Park. It's gorgeous, It's not like some field
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Speaker 1: of weeds off by the industrial park. This is a
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Speaker 1: very well manicured, well lit park. It's it's popular, a
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Speaker 1: lot of people go there. It's really hard for me
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Speaker 1: to believe she's last seen there at four thirty in
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Speaker 1: the afternoon daylight hours, right, not four thirty am, four
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Speaker 1: thirty pm.
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Speaker 6: Right, that's correct, Nancy, what's fascinating.
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Speaker 1: Have you seen the pictures of this park?
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Speaker 7: Yes, it's incredible. It's a familiar place to everyone in
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Speaker 7: the area. But Nancy, here's the part that really comes
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Speaker 7: into play. We know that Amy was at her her
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Speaker 7: home neighborhood around two pm. She was seen by neighbors
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Speaker 7: outside with her dog. Then we have four thirty pm
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Speaker 7: where she has seen on surveillance video in Diamond Park.
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Speaker 7: There's a two and a half hour window where we
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Speaker 7: don't know where she was or what she was doing.
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Speaker 7: But it would take it's a couple of miles from
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Speaker 7: her home to Diamond Park. Okay, it's like three to
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Speaker 7: four miles. It's not a straight shot. Driving time ten
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Speaker 7: to fifteen minutes, walking time much longer. It could take
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Speaker 7: an hour to hour and a half and not something
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Speaker 7: that would normally be walked. So we've got an issue
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Speaker 7: here of time and trying to build that timeline. But
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Speaker 7: four thirty pm Diamond Park she has seen on surveillance
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Speaker 7: video confirmed day Mac.
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Speaker 1: You're saying Diamond Park, right, not like the Jewel but
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Speaker 1: d im n D correct, that is correct. Have you
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Speaker 1: seen it. It's gorgeous And one thing that really jumps
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Speaker 1: out at me is I'm looking at at a lot
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Speaker 1: of photos of the park and there are a lot
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Speaker 1: of kid spots for children to play, like playground equipment.
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Speaker 1: There's redwoods, there're walking trails. It's very densely forested, which
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Speaker 1: is a whole nother can of worms for Brian Fitzgibbons
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Speaker 1: to figure out. There's a creek bed. I don't know
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Speaker 1: if there's water involved, but if there is, I doubt
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Speaker 1: pretty seriously it's whitewater. They're manicured grounds with walkways. What
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Speaker 1: I'm saying is it looks like an upscale park, a
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Speaker 1: walking park.
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Speaker 7: As I mentioned, you know, there are surveillance cameras, so
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Speaker 7: it makes an individual feel safe when they go there.
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Speaker 7: That's how we have the video. We don't have it,
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Speaker 7: but they have confirmed the sighting by video of Amy
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Speaker 7: in the park at four thirty, so gives you an
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Speaker 7: idea of what kind of park we're really talking about.
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Speaker 1: Brian Fitzgibbons, I understand your concern. This is in day light,
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Speaker 1: and if you look at this photo, very well manicured.
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Speaker 1: And the reason I keep saying that is because it
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Speaker 1: leads me to believe that there are surveillance cameras there
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Speaker 1: now on a remote trail like where Rachel Morin. Remember
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Speaker 1: she was on mon Paw Trail and it's not extremely remote.
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Speaker 1: She could drive to it, had a good trail head
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Speaker 1: with a parking area, but it was more remote than this.
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Speaker 1: If you'll recall Rachel morn, a young mom of five
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Speaker 1: goes missing on a mon Paw trail and it's a
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Speaker 1: very active trail, very active. And the reason I say
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Speaker 1: this is I felt at the time that someone should
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Speaker 1: have seen the purp and have seen her go on
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Speaker 1: the trail. Now, she hadn't been killed for long before
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Speaker 1: other hikers come along and find her body. What I'm
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Speaker 1: saying about this case, which is eerily similar, it seems
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Speaker 1: like there are a lot of people there fits and
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Speaker 1: if you look at the well manicured nature of Diamond Park,
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Speaker 1: there's got to be surveillance. There has to be rangers.
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Speaker 1: I mean, look at that. It's not like a remote
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Speaker 1: National Park hiking trail where there's nobody. I mean, if
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Speaker 1: you think about Ariel Koenig out at very remote and treacherous,
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Speaker 1: treacherous hiking trail where her husband trying to push her
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Speaker 1: over the edge of a cliff, it was a miracle.
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Speaker 1: Two hikers came along and saw what was happening before
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Speaker 1: Ariel had our head totally bashed in by your husband.
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Speaker 1: That said, not the same thing here. That's my point.
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Speaker 1: Why did anybody see what happened?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, So there are really two components to Diamond Park,
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Speaker 2: and the one that you just accurately described. You know,
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Speaker 2: we have to believe that there's surveillance footage. It's a
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Speaker 2: densely populated area all around the park. However, extending about
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Speaker 2: a mile to the north towards Shepherd Canyon, there are
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Speaker 2: there are trailheads that continue into a much more secluded,
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Speaker 2: densely wooded part of the same park that might be
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Speaker 2: referred to as Diamond Park as well.
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Speaker 8: So the question is was.
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Speaker 2: Amy Hilliard walking in that recreation area side of the
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Speaker 2: park or was she on these more remote trailheads extending
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Speaker 2: to the north towards Shepherd Canyon, which would cause a
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Speaker 2: much more difficult search.
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Speaker 1: Dave Matt Crime Story's investigative reporter. Of course she was
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Speaker 1: spotted on surveillance video, but I don't know that video
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Speaker 1: was her going at the entrance, going in, or somewhere
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Speaker 1: within the park. Do we know what we can see
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Speaker 1: in the background of that surveillance video. Have they released it?
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Speaker 6: Not yet.
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Speaker 7: The video has not been released, and we haven't been
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Speaker 7: given a lot of information about where she was in
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Speaker 7: the park, what she was doing in the park. We
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Speaker 7: don't know if she was out for a walk on
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Speaker 7: a trail or if she was sitting under a tree
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Speaker 7: reading a book. We don't have a clue right now.
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Speaker 1: We know that it's characterized by natural hiking paths, trails, redwoods,
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Speaker 1: sometimes very dense. Back to you, Brian Fitzgibbons, USPA Nationwide Security,
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Speaker 1: tell me again about the other area of the park,
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Speaker 1: not the nicely manicured area, but where it goes off
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Speaker 1: into more remote hiking trails.
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Speaker 2: From that nicely manicured area that we could refer to
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Speaker 2: as the recreation area of the park. You have access
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Speaker 2: to a number of trailheads that extend to the north.
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Speaker 2: They they cross over underneath highways and extend north to
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Speaker 2: Shepherd Canyon. Now that part of the park is much
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Speaker 2: more remote, much more secluded, The terrain is more difficult
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Speaker 2: and much easier to hide somebody in there or get
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Speaker 2: lost in there.
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Speaker 1: Since Amy disappeared, over two hundred volunteers have gone all
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Speaker 1: around the neighborhood near the park asking for camera footage,
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Speaker 1: door camps, anything that they can find. Straight out to
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Speaker 1: a special guest joining us, Doctor Rachel Toles, Doctor Toles,
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Speaker 1: clinical forensic psychologist, author of a brand new book coming out,
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Speaker 1: Inventing the Psychopath. Okay, I'm reading that How a convenient
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Speaker 1: myth makes the World more dangerous. You can find her
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Speaker 1: at doctor Racheltoles dot com t l e s. Doctor Toles,
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Speaker 1: thank you for being with us, Doctor Rachel Tols. Why
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Speaker 1: is it when here you've got a beautiful and very
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Speaker 1: successful coffee shop owner, everybody seemingly loves her. When she
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Speaker 1: goes missing, everyone acts like she ran off with a man.
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Speaker 1: Why Why is that When a guy goes missing, nobody says, oh,
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Speaker 1: he's a big hoe, But when a woman goes missing,
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Speaker 1: it's all together different.
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Speaker 3: It is very strange and it is a double standard.
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Speaker 3: You could argue that maybe some people have this idea
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Speaker 3: on their minds because of the recent Michelle Hunley Smith
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Speaker 3: case in North Carolina where she disappeared in two thousand
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Speaker 3: and one and was found alive and well this year.
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Speaker 3: She left when her daughter was fourteen. But these types
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Speaker 3: of cases with women kind of just wandering off or
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Speaker 3: leaving with the lover usually have a different behavioral structure.
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Speaker 3: And from what's public here, we haven't heard any of
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Speaker 3: these kind of precipitating crisis things or that there was
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Speaker 3: issues in the marriage. We haven't heard that yet. But yes,
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Speaker 3: it's a double standard and it's really unfortunate.
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Speaker 1: You mentioned a mom. I believe she was a mom
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Speaker 1: of three. He goes missing for about fourteen years and
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Speaker 1: she's found basically in the next town over. You know
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Speaker 1: why we know about the case because it's avant. It's unusual.
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Speaker 1: It's highly unusual for a mom of three to go
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Speaker 1: missing and lose all contact with her children. They think
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Speaker 1: she's dead for over a decade. It rarely happens. That's
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Speaker 1: why it made a headline, and it feeds into women
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Speaker 1: disappear because they want to, They want me time, they
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Speaker 1: want to go on a walk about a girl's trip.
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Speaker 1: That is so rare to Joanna Nievas joining us, high
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Speaker 1: profile criminal defense attorney, founder of the Nievas Law Firm, Joanna,
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Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. Why is this this
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Speaker 1: stereotype alive and well, very alive and well. Even amongst
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Speaker 1: law enforcement, when a woman goes missing, we just assume
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Speaker 1: she's slung up at the motel six.
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Speaker 6: Yeah.
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Speaker 9: I think it's because people are always looking for a
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Speaker 9: reason to place on something, rather than you know, going
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Speaker 9: to the route of, hey, somebody took this person and
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Speaker 9: against their will. You know, she's a mother of two,
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Speaker 9: she's a prominent business owner in the community. They're going
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Speaker 9: to lean towards hey, was there trouble at home? Was
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Speaker 9: she escaping from reality? Was there mounting debt and a
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Speaker 9: sinking business? Rather than hey, she's on you know, on
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Speaker 9: a daily routine maybe of walking a dog or walking
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Speaker 9: about a park, and somebody abducted her. Because it's less,
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Speaker 9: you know, it's it's easier to digest that somebody voluntarily
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Speaker 9: left their phone behind so that they can leave their
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Speaker 9: family and their their businesses to get away, rather than hey,
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Speaker 9: this person was placed at risk when she was minding
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Speaker 9: her own.
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Speaker 1: Business crime stories with Nancy Grace. Again in the last days,
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Speaker 1: a renowned private investigator, Steve Fisher, has been hired in
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Speaker 1: the Amy Hilliard disappearance. He's probing foul play why because
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Speaker 1: of disturbing clues left inside her home. Fisher goes on
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Speaker 1: to say the case is so challenging because no one
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Speaker 1: has been able to trace her last known whereabouts after
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Speaker 1: she suddenly leaves her home. What happened when Amy Hilliard
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Speaker 1: walks out of her front door, last seen around four
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Speaker 1: four point thirty in the afternoon at Diamond Park. Before that,
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Speaker 1: she was seen around two pm leaving her home in
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Speaker 1: Oakland's Cleveland Heights neighborhood. People from the Alameda County Sheriff's
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Speaker 1: Office or part of the search, along with volunteers. A
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Speaker 1: statement has been issued. There's no recent video footage other
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Speaker 1: than what we have learned about. There was initial incorrect information.
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Speaker 1: We believe she was last seeing wearing a white top
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Speaker 1: and jeans and significantly that she was alone. To Brian Fitzgibbons,
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Speaker 1: why is it important that she was alone when she
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Speaker 1: was last spotted.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's important to note that there was no one
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Speaker 2: else with her on that surveillance footage, that she was
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Speaker 2: spotted alone, meaning that she hadn't gone there to meet
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Speaker 2: up with someone, at least as far as we can
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Speaker 2: tell from the video evidence. So there is no additional
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Speaker 2: person of interest that investigators can be looking.
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Speaker 8: For at this time.
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Speaker 2: That's why this is so important that this canvas extends
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Speaker 2: to the surrounding residences to find any footage that could
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Speaker 2: potentially have Amy walking by at that time, so we
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Speaker 2: can see who else may have been following her, may
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Speaker 2: have been with her earlier prior to this captured footage
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Speaker 2: in the park.
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Speaker 1: Got a question for you, outside the park, wouldn't that
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Speaker 1: be an issue? For instance, what businesses are there? If any?
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Speaker 1: Can we get video surveillance from there? I would be
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Speaker 1: curious about what interstates are near there, because if somebody
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Speaker 1: has her right now tonight and they're on the interstate,
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Speaker 1: they're going sixty miles an hour. Okay, let's just go
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Speaker 1: with that. Every hour, she's sixty miles further away.
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Speaker 8: Yeah, there's a couple major roads.
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Speaker 2: To the north is Route thirteen and to the south
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Speaker 2: five to eighty, which is not far from Diamond Park.
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Speaker 2: So you know, you're spot on to say that the
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Speaker 2: egress from that area is quite simple.
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Speaker 8: Would be fast. So we have to.
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Speaker 2: Immediately extend this canvas to that sere, to the surrounding cameras,
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Speaker 2: be they residential or commercial, aud in and around Diamond
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Speaker 2: Park around the time she went was last scene.
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Speaker 1: Okay, Dave mac tell me about the area outside the park.
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Speaker 1: Of course, the park area and those hiking trails that
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Speaker 1: are densely forested are going to be the first place
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Speaker 1: police look. But outside that, just let's say she was
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Speaker 1: taken outside the park. Let's pretend a vehicle that is
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Speaker 1: an alternative. Police have to explore what's around the park.
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Speaker 7: You've got, Nancy, there's a lot of access by major
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Speaker 7: by roads running in and around the area. We are
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Speaker 7: dealing with neighborhoods, you know, family homes. But as you
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Speaker 7: see on the map there there is one road that
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Speaker 7: runs along this path that canvases and connects most of
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Speaker 7: these areas. As you look, you'll notice that the park
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Speaker 7: that we started with at Lake Merritt and going to
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Speaker 7: dim Se there is.
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Speaker 6: That one main road.
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Speaker 7: But look aside all around its residential area, you've got
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Speaker 7: those huge trees running as you look there.
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Speaker 6: You've got redwoods.
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Speaker 7: All over this area and easy access out of the
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Speaker 7: park on the road, and you're into town. You're heading
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Speaker 7: into Oakland and San Francisco. You're in the Bay Area
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Speaker 7: in a matter of minutes.
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Speaker 6: Nancy.
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Speaker 7: It's not a far off journey from the park into
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Speaker 7: areas of a lot high population.
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Speaker 1: You know, I'm very curious when you say it's not
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Speaker 1: far from Oakland, which has a sky rocketing crime rate.
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Speaker 1: How far from Oakland is it.
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Speaker 7: We're talking eight to ten miles. The search has extended
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Speaker 7: into Oakland neighborhoods and major parks beyond Diamond Park.
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Speaker 6: Nancy. That's something that has just been added to this.
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Speaker 7: Remember, we lost three or four of the first the
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Speaker 7: search time where the search was focused on Amy Hilliard's
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Speaker 7: neighborhood and Lake Merritt, which was a couple of minutes
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Speaker 7: walk away from her home. Three or four days spent
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Speaker 7: in that area. It was only after they expanded the
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Speaker 7: search and found the video at Diamond Park that the
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Speaker 7: search expanded beyond that. So we lost several days of
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Speaker 7: looking for Amy early on.
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Speaker 1: Okay, back to you, Brian Fitzgibbons, that is brutal. Did
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Speaker 1: you hear what Dave Matt from Crime Stories just said.
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Speaker 1: Days were lost, days were lost searching the wrong area.
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Speaker 8: Yeah, a no missing person's case is perfect.
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Speaker 2: So information comes to light, you know, sometimes hours, sometimes
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Speaker 2: many days after the initial report that a person's gone missing.
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Speaker 2: And in this case, it sounds like that surveillance video
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Speaker 2: came in later after the fact and investigators had to
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Speaker 2: refocus their efforts.
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Speaker 8: Now, what I.
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Speaker 2: Will say is from an immediate sense, investigators would be
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Speaker 2: you know, doing the victimology on Amy. What were her
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Speaker 2: normal patterns? Was this out of the ordinary for her
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Speaker 2: to walk in Diamond Park? Was it ordinary for her
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Speaker 2: to leave her cell phone behind when hiking and going
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Speaker 2: for a walk. Those are things that would have happened
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Speaker 2: regardless of where those searches were taking place. But no
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Speaker 2: doubt crucial time was lost.
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Speaker 8: Is Amy Hilliard and she is co owner of.
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Speaker 6: Oh COO, which has been greatly.
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Speaker 8: Expanded to my viewers about the searcher.
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Speaker 10: We took over Subway, which is always good for the
21:46
Speaker 10: boy independent business to take over Shane and they moved
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Speaker 10: out in the end of September, and we thought this
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Speaker 10: is the opportunity we've been looking for for years and years,
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Speaker 10: so we expanded as the news space. We have a
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Speaker 10: proper hitching, we're.
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Speaker 11: Doing more food, and we have more space for community,
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Speaker 11: which is what we're really excited about.
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Speaker 1: From Zenny sixty two YouTube.
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Speaker 12: Oakland mom Amy Hilliard disappears after leaving home without her
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Speaker 12: cell phone. She was last seen near Lake Merritt. Her
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Speaker 12: family and authorities urgently seeking information.
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Speaker 1: The search goes on tonight for a missing coffee shop
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Speaker 1: owner Amy Hilliard, the mom of beautiful daughters now begging
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Speaker 1: for their mom's return. Where is Amy joining us an
22:34
Speaker 1: all star panel? You know, it's very disturbing Joe Indieva's
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Speaker 1: high profile criminal defense attorney joining us out of this jurisdiction.
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Speaker 1: I don't know if you're familiar with Diamond Park or how.
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Speaker 1: It's just minutes away from Oakland, not far at all,
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Speaker 1: which has one of the highest crime rates in the country. Oakland,
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Speaker 1: California horrific crime rates. Do we think that this park
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Speaker 1: is in a vacuum. It's literally a few minutes away
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Speaker 1: from downtown Oakland. So crime doesn't know jurisdictional boundaries. Crime
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Speaker 1: can go from inner city out to the suburbs. Everybody
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Speaker 1: thinks they're safe to this park. Just like with Rachel
23:19
Speaker 1: Morin minding her own business, a mom of five, she's
23:23
Speaker 1: dead off of a hiking trail. So what can you
23:27
Speaker 1: tell me, Joanna Nievis? You practice law all over the
23:31
Speaker 1: state of California, you're based in Oakland. What can you
23:34
Speaker 1: tell me about the area?
23:37
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think one thing to consider is it's one
23:40
Speaker 9: of those places where you're going to find more seclusion,
23:43
Speaker 9: and sometimes the opportunity is more ripe when there's less
23:46
Speaker 9: hustle and bustle, less people around and moving. You know,
23:50
Speaker 9: when we're talking about a property crime and there's a
23:52
Speaker 9: lot going on, easy in and out in downtown Oakland, right,
23:55
Speaker 9: that's a go to crime. You can't get away from it.
24:00
Speaker 9: We're thinking about somebody who may potentially have been abducted
24:03
Speaker 9: or harmed in some way. Sometimes when you get them
24:06
Speaker 9: in a more remote, remote area, like we're talking about
24:09
Speaker 9: a part that, yes, it's accessible to the community, but
24:13
Speaker 9: there is these portions of it where you have that
24:16
Speaker 9: privacy and seclusion that may be more opportune for somebody
24:21
Speaker 9: that is looking to cause harm.
24:24
Speaker 1: Diamond Park in Oakland is located near Fruitville and also
24:29
Speaker 1: the Laurel District. It's part of a city with a
24:33
Speaker 1: horrible crime rate. You've got a one and eleven chance
24:39
Speaker 1: of becoming a crime victim in Oakland. Now, the Diamond
24:44
Speaker 1: District is situated in essentral Oakland, and that's considered more
24:50
Speaker 1: moderate in safety compared to other high risk corridors in
24:55
Speaker 1: West and deep East Oakland, but still still very high
25:01
Speaker 1: crime rate. And you know, to doctor Rachel Tolls joining us,
25:06
Speaker 1: I believe when people, for instance, go on vacation, they're
25:10
Speaker 1: on a cruise ship, they're in one of those all
25:12
Speaker 1: inclusive resorts, they think they're safe. Because you choose to
25:17
Speaker 1: believe you're in this safety bubble, everything's going to be okay.
25:21
Speaker 1: Much the same thing when people go to these beautiful
25:25
Speaker 1: but heavily wooded forests parks, they see the children's playground
25:32
Speaker 1: and that automatically signals safe. They see lighting, they see
25:38
Speaker 1: surveillance cams and that signals safety. I'm safe, and they
25:43
Speaker 1: let their guard down. And really, doctor doctor Rachel, why not.
25:50
Speaker 1: You cannot live in a constant state of fear and agitation.
25:56
Speaker 1: But this feeling, this false sense of security is misplaced.
26:01
Speaker 3: I completely agree, and I think that that is exactly
26:04
Speaker 3: what happens in cases like these, we often see people thinking, well,
26:08
Speaker 3: I just want to walk in nature, so maybe I
26:10
Speaker 3: will leave my cell phone at home because I want
26:12
Speaker 3: to unplug, so I'll just go into the kind of
26:14
Speaker 3: a denser area. But of course that's not wise because
26:18
Speaker 3: it puts you at risk. And then of course we
26:20
Speaker 3: hear that she has this undisclosed medical condition. So if
26:24
Speaker 3: she's then vulnerable for that reason or any other reason,
26:27
Speaker 3: that's of course increasing the risk.
26:29
Speaker 1: You know, that's curious, Dave mac. We hear she has
26:32
Speaker 1: some sort of a medical condition, and it's making the
26:37
Speaker 1: family even more concerned. Is it diabetes? Have you heard?
26:43
Speaker 1: Do you know what the condition is?
26:45
Speaker 7: No, we have only been told that she has a
26:48
Speaker 7: medical condition, but there has been no definition of what
26:52
Speaker 7: that is. There's no descriptions of what it could possibly be,
26:57
Speaker 7: just that it is a condition that acquires attention.
27:01
Speaker 1: According to our friend Steve Fisher, Amy's family theories on
27:06
Speaker 1: what happened changes. Some days they're convinced she must be
27:10
Speaker 1: somewhere just taking a mental break, having me time, getting
27:15
Speaker 1: away from it all. Then other days they're convinced something
27:19
Speaker 1: horrible happened. She owns the coffee shop, Farley's coffee with
27:25
Speaker 1: husband Chris and her sister Alexandra. They've launched a website,
27:31
Speaker 1: Bring Amy Home, and they're offering a twenty five thousand
27:34
Speaker 1: dollar reward for info leading to her return. People suspend
27:42
Speaker 1: concerns for self safety when they go on hikes, when
27:46
Speaker 1: they're jogging, or when they're in for instance, a you
27:50
Speaker 1: call it part like this, what everybody does it? I
27:53
Speaker 1: do it, and I certainly know better.
27:56
Speaker 3: I think you actually nailed it when you said that
27:58
Speaker 3: people can't live in a constant state of fear and
28:01
Speaker 3: looking over their shoulder. And of course, us women, we
28:03
Speaker 3: are doing that all the time, from the time that
28:05
Speaker 3: we basically come out of the womb. We're constantly scanning
28:08
Speaker 3: our environments, and that hypervigilance is not healthy. I mean,
28:12
Speaker 3: we know that stress is the number one killer. We
28:14
Speaker 3: just shouldn't be in that state.
28:16
Speaker 13: And the idea of being able to go in nature
28:19
Speaker 13: and take a breath and believe the fantasy that we're
28:23
Speaker 13: all just safe once we enter the woods, I mean,
28:27
Speaker 13: it's a nice theory, but it does put us at risk,
28:31
Speaker 13: and especially if we've decided to not take our cell phones.
28:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just wondering if she had her cell phone,
28:38
Speaker 1: Dave Mack, do we know, Yeah.
28:40
Speaker 6: We know that she did not have her cell phone.
28:42
Speaker 1: Nancy, Okay, I get it. I get it, Doctor Rachel Toles.
28:51
Speaker 1: We're told all the time to unplug. I was just
28:56
Speaker 1: complaining last night that I'm constantly being text and called,
29:02
Speaker 1: I mean twenty four to seven, and it never fails.
29:05
Speaker 1: And when I see it pop up, I think almost oars.
29:08
Speaker 1: Is that about a crime victim? Is that about a
29:10
Speaker 1: case that we're investigating. I have to pick it up.
29:13
Speaker 1: But it's constant. So we're told all the time, unplugged,
29:16
Speaker 1: unwind or you'll have a stroke. But going into a park,
29:21
Speaker 1: I would think that you would have your phone with you.
29:24
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's one of her regular practices
29:26
Speaker 1: to go without a phone, but I'm very disheartened because
29:30
Speaker 1: that's really cutting the odds of finding her quickly by
29:35
Speaker 1: more than half.
29:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think that the fact that, from what
29:40
Speaker 3: I understand, the park is quite close to her home.
29:43
Speaker 3: I have a feeling. Of course, we don't know yet,
29:45
Speaker 3: but it was maybe a routine, and you get into
29:49
Speaker 3: a routine with your daily practice, and maybe you do
29:52
Speaker 3: you just think, oh, I've done this a million times
29:53
Speaker 3: I'm just gonna leave the phone, I'm going to go,
29:55
Speaker 3: and you just kind of get into that and then
29:58
Speaker 3: all of a sudden you're a real bad situation. So
30:01
Speaker 3: I really highly recommend that people take their phones and
30:04
Speaker 3: if they, you know, just just put them in your
30:07
Speaker 3: pocket or in your purse or whatever, but just have
30:09
Speaker 3: it with you because otherwise you can go missing and
30:13
Speaker 3: it'll be very hard to find you.
30:16
Speaker 1: Brian Fitzgibbons, there is a hiking trail through Diamond Canyon
30:22
Speaker 1: within Diamond Park that opens up a whole another can
30:27
Speaker 1: of worms for searchers. Explain it's rugged terrain.
30:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is very densely forested, rugged terrain, you know,
30:39
Speaker 2: which adds some complexity of this because in that type
30:42
Speaker 2: of terrain, the likelihood of someone hearing or seeing something,
30:48
Speaker 2: you know, another hiker on the trail reduces greatly, right
30:54
Speaker 2: because of the dense vegetation, because of the canyons, the
30:59
Speaker 2: terrain feature. And then naturally a lot of hikers and
31:03
Speaker 2: runners are wearing headphones in twenty twenty six, you know,
31:07
Speaker 2: they're listening to a podcast, listening to music as they run.
31:11
Speaker 2: So the further away from that recreation area that amy walked.
31:16
Speaker 2: If she potentially did head to the north, the more
31:19
Speaker 2: difficult this search will be.
31:22
Speaker 1: Well, can you tell me about the recreation area, Dave
31:25
Speaker 1: mac because that involves parking, that involves people driving in
31:31
Speaker 1: and out. If she was taken out in a vehicle,
31:34
Speaker 1: nobody would think a thing of it. What's it the
31:37
Speaker 1: recreation facility?
31:39
Speaker 7: Well, you know you mentioned the area for children to play.
31:43
Speaker 7: That's what they're talking about with recreational form. There you
31:45
Speaker 7: go pictures like that of you see in a park
31:47
Speaker 7: that actually, to be honest with you, Nancay, when you
31:49
Speaker 7: see things like this for children to play on in
31:51
Speaker 7: basketball goals, in tennis courts and swimming pool, all you
31:55
Speaker 7: think are family related activities and a very safe place.
31:58
Speaker 7: It's also mean the woods well creates a lot of
32:02
Speaker 7: hiding spots. Now you mentioned parking. This is right off
32:05
Speaker 7: MacArthur Boulevard, which is a major thoroughfare heading straight into
32:09
Speaker 7: downtown Oakland, and you can get on MacArthur and be
32:13
Speaker 7: gone in a matter of minutes, Nancy. So yes, this
32:17
Speaker 7: is a park that has a lot of things for
32:20
Speaker 7: children families to do, activities, sports and things like that,
32:24
Speaker 7: and it is easy access from MacArthur Boulevard, which gives
32:28
Speaker 7: you a lot of things to consider when looking for
32:31
Speaker 7: someone like Amy Hilliard.
32:32
Speaker 14: Maybe someone will see her, or has seen her, or
32:35
Speaker 14: has a ring camera video that has recorded her in
32:40
Speaker 14: the last couple.
32:41
Speaker 4: Of days and doesn't know it.
32:42
Speaker 14: But if they just take a look at that recording,
32:45
Speaker 14: they might see that she was on that camera walking
32:48
Speaker 14: on Wednesday, March twenty fifth, when she went missing, and
32:51
Speaker 14: they might be able to give us the lead that
32:53
Speaker 14: will help us find her.
32:55
Speaker 12: From kpix, Amy Hilliard classified as an at risk missing person,
33:00
Speaker 12: as customers and employees say, her sudden disappearance is completely
33:04
Speaker 12: out of character and deeply concerning.
33:07
Speaker 1: Evidence of routine routine evidence And I don't mean standard stereotypical,
33:15
Speaker 1: run of the mill evidence roots routine. I mean evidence
33:18
Speaker 1: of her routine. She has never not shown up to work,
33:25
Speaker 1: highly uncharacteristic. She co owned a very popular coffee shop
33:32
Speaker 1: in Oakland, Farley's. They're at a loss. She's never done
33:37
Speaker 1: this before. What does that mean to you, doctor Rachel?
33:42
Speaker 3: I mean, well, I'm sure you probably know this, but
33:46
Speaker 3: the coffee shop itself was named after I believe Chris,
33:49
Speaker 3: the husband's great grandfather who went missing. That's a fact
33:54
Speaker 3: that is just also eerie.
33:56
Speaker 1: I know that I know that it didn't bring it
33:59
Speaker 1: up because I don't find it relevant to her search.
34:01
Speaker 1: But it is an odd coincidence, a fact. Dave and
34:05
Speaker 1: I were talking about that right before we went to
34:07
Speaker 1: air tonight, So Dave go ahead and explain that. Do
34:11
Speaker 1: I think it's relevant here? No, I do not, but
34:14
Speaker 1: it is odd.
34:16
Speaker 7: This is one of those stories that's handed down by
34:18
Speaker 7: the family Nancy. Again, not a lot of documentation back
34:21
Speaker 7: in nineteen twenty as to what took place, but the
34:24
Speaker 7: story of the grandfather going missing, just vanishing into thin
34:28
Speaker 7: air and nobody hearing from him again sparked enough interest
34:32
Speaker 7: in this family, passing the story down to the point
34:35
Speaker 7: where this entire company, Farley's Coffee, is named after a
34:41
Speaker 7: man who went missing.
34:48
Speaker 1: Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Amy's family has hired Steve
34:56
Speaker 1: Fisher and his partner to gather security footage, much like
35:00
Speaker 1: they did in the D four VD David Anthony Burke case.
35:02
Speaker 1: When Celestia Revis goes missing and to trace her last
35:07
Speaker 1: known steps. Fisher says, we know on the day for disappearance,
35:11
Speaker 1: Amy went to a therapist's appointment long scheduled, then took
35:16
Speaker 1: rapid transit home. She texted her husband just before two
35:20
Speaker 1: o'clock to let him know she got back home and
35:23
Speaker 1: that her credit card had been charged for a transit ticket.
35:27
Speaker 1: Then surveillance footage catches her taking her dog for a walk,
35:31
Speaker 1: chatting normally with a neighbor, and then returning home. In
35:34
Speaker 1: the video, she seems perfectly fine. She's walking the dog.
35:39
Speaker 1: It was a normal walk, maybe a little shorter, a
35:42
Speaker 1: six or seven minute dog walk, just to let him
35:45
Speaker 1: her go outside. She actually mentioned to a neighbor that
35:48
Speaker 1: the dog didn't seem to feel like walking. But when
35:51
Speaker 1: her husband got home around three point fifteen, not long after,
35:55
Speaker 1: about an hour later, the back door was open and
35:59
Speaker 1: all of Amy's on the kitchen counter, kar Ky's cell phone, wallet, handbag.
36:03
Speaker 1: What more do we know about what happened to day?
36:06
Speaker 1: Amy just vanishes.
36:07
Speaker 15: She's the lynchpin in a lot of our relationships. She's
36:10
Speaker 15: the lynchpin at her coffee shop. She has fed hundreds,
36:14
Speaker 15: if not thousands of people through her coffee shop.
36:17
Speaker 16: So this is shocking. I don't know what's happening. We
36:20
Speaker 16: want her home. She loves her family, especially her two girls.
36:24
Speaker 16: She loves her business, her employees. She is very passionate
36:28
Speaker 16: in everything she does.
36:30
Speaker 1: From our friends at k TVU and Kate g oh
36:34
Speaker 1: Okay Fitzgibbons, what are authorities doing right now? For one thing,
36:40
Speaker 1: I'm sure they're speaking to everybody in the family, including
36:43
Speaker 1: the husband. Let me just say up front, Faith Gibbons,
36:47
Speaker 1: do not show up on his front porch with a
36:50
Speaker 1: torch and a pitchfork. No, there is no reason to
36:55
Speaker 1: suspect him. However, that's where police we'll start. But also
37:02
Speaker 1: we know she left her home alone, so I'm sure
37:06
Speaker 1: the first thing they did was make sure his phone
37:09
Speaker 1: wasn't also at Diamond Park and get his alibi. Sop.
37:13
Speaker 1: That does not make him a person of interest or
37:16
Speaker 1: a suspect.
37:18
Speaker 2: Correct, And you know, it's natural for investigators to begin
37:22
Speaker 2: with family and close friends business partners for the simple
37:26
Speaker 2: fact that Amy spent the majority of her time and
37:30
Speaker 2: had the majority of her communications with them, so they
37:33
Speaker 2: can learn the most about Amy and her routines. Any
37:38
Speaker 2: problems she was facing, were their financial issues with the business?
37:42
Speaker 2: Was there some kind of threat perceived or real that
37:47
Speaker 2: she was under at the time, And it's important to
37:50
Speaker 2: note that investigators are on the same side of the
37:53
Speaker 2: table as the family. In these opening weeks, everybody's all
37:57
Speaker 2: in to find Amy here and identifying these routines and patterns,
38:03
Speaker 2: getting deep on that cell phone and the communications that's
38:08
Speaker 2: happening now, and then as the days go on, they're
38:11
Speaker 2: going to expand that canvas into the neighborhood, knocking on doors,
38:16
Speaker 2: old school investigative work to get information and potentially video.
38:24
Speaker 1: Speaking of habit and routine, I'm wondering was it her
38:29
Speaker 1: routine to go to Diamond Park to go for walks.
38:34
Speaker 1: I'm wondering because when you step out of Farley's, from
38:36
Speaker 1: what I can see, you're right on a busy street
38:39
Speaker 1: with a lot of red lights, so you don't get
38:42
Speaker 1: very much exercise in. I'm wondering if that was part
38:45
Speaker 1: of her routine, which changes things because it seems that
38:50
Speaker 1: people are questioning, why did you go to the park,
38:53
Speaker 1: Why was she there alone? Why did she not have
38:55
Speaker 1: her phone? As if somehow it's her fault. For all
38:58
Speaker 1: I know, this may be her regular workout schedule. Do
39:02
Speaker 1: we know anything at all, Dave Mack about her regular
39:06
Speaker 1: workout retaine we do.
39:08
Speaker 7: Nancy Lake Merritt is very close to Nancy's home. We're
39:12
Speaker 7: talking half mile, and that was the location where Nancy
39:16
Speaker 7: would regularly walk, oftentimes with her dog. So Lake Merritt
39:20
Speaker 7: was where the search was focused, as it is right
39:22
Speaker 7: there in the neighborhood. Now when it comes to Diamond Park,
39:25
Speaker 7: not so much, she didn't. It was a little bit
39:28
Speaker 7: further away from the house, about four miles, not an
39:31
Speaker 7: easy walk to get to and so not convenient, not
39:35
Speaker 7: something she regularly did. She did regularly walk in Merritt
39:40
Speaker 7: in Lake Merritt, not at Diamond Park.
39:43
Speaker 17: The whole thing is heartbreaking and shocking. I didn't get
39:48
Speaker 17: very much sleep last night. Our lease is really a
39:51
Speaker 17: very important part of our community. They really networked into
39:55
Speaker 17: the community in a wonderful way. That she's returned healthy
39:59
Speaker 17: and safe and sound.
40:01
Speaker 15: We've been friends for the least in the last twenty
40:03
Speaker 15: five years. She's important in my life. She's an aunt
40:07
Speaker 15: to my children. Her husband and my husband are best friends.
40:10
Speaker 15: They went to college together. She's one of the most
40:12
Speaker 15: important people we have in our lives.
40:14
Speaker 1: When you have a.
40:15
Speaker 15: Problem, she's generally the first person that you reach out to,
40:18
Speaker 15: which is why tonight it's so important for us to
40:21
Speaker 15: all come together and help her and help her family
40:24
Speaker 15: in a similar way that they've always helped us.
40:26
Speaker 1: From KTVU and kpi X. You know, Joanna niavis A
40:31
Speaker 1: lot of people do not have dozens of searchers of
40:37
Speaker 1: volunteers out looking for them. Every one of these close
40:42
Speaker 1: friends need to speak to police and undergo forensic interviews.
40:47
Speaker 1: Why because who.
40:49
Speaker 9: She was speaking to, the nature of the relationship she had,
40:53
Speaker 9: the background about her dynamics in the community is so
40:57
Speaker 9: critical to giving the live enforcement clues about what may
41:02
Speaker 9: or may not may have occurred in this situation. You know,
41:06
Speaker 9: she left the cell phone at home, but who was
41:08
Speaker 9: the last person she talked to? She was gone for
41:11
Speaker 9: two and a half hours on a Wednesday, in the
41:14
Speaker 9: middle of the day when most people might be picking
41:16
Speaker 9: their kids up from school. So who did she have
41:18
Speaker 9: in her life that would help with those type of things?
41:21
Speaker 9: Did she often take time away from the coffee shop
41:24
Speaker 9: to go on these long excursions. And all of her
41:28
Speaker 9: community members who really know her are going to help
41:31
Speaker 9: paint that picture so that the police don't get tunnel
41:34
Speaker 9: vision just going down one avenue, but they're able to
41:37
Speaker 9: take that aggregated and make a make a conscious decision
41:40
Speaker 9: about where to target that investigation.
41:42
Speaker 11: We have a great window see where we have a
41:45
Speaker 11: knitting group on Tuesdays and we're really looking forward for
41:50
Speaker 11: all of the community enjoy it more hours of the day.
41:52
Speaker 3: And we get mom, it's not an expression, it's just
41:55
Speaker 3: that I'm eating one of the great sandwiches.
41:57
Speaker 8: So you have the books.
42:02
Speaker 2: Thirty three, Yeah, Grande Oakley coming, Yeah, you're welcome here.
42:11
Speaker 1: That's from Zenny sixty two, a vlogger, Zenny Abraham. Wait
42:18
Speaker 1: a minute, you know everything about victimology is not fitting
42:22
Speaker 1: in Brian Fitzgibbons. She hosts a knitting group on Tuesdays
42:28
Speaker 1: at our coffee shop. This is not high risk activity.
42:34
Speaker 1: This is not like she's looking for thrills in downtown
42:38
Speaker 1: Oakland after midnight. She's not a drug user, she's not
42:43
Speaker 1: an addict, she doesn't have a drinking problem. She's not
42:47
Speaker 1: prone to high risk activity. This is very, very aberrant,
42:53
Speaker 1: very odd Fitzgibbons.
42:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is also somebody, as you said, you know,
42:59
Speaker 2: runs a niteating circle on Tuesday nights, owns a business
43:03
Speaker 2: with employees, It's deeply connected to the community, participates in
43:08
Speaker 2: a number of community based nonprofits.
43:12
Speaker 8: This is not someone who typically.
43:16
Speaker 2: Would leave on their own volition, which makes this all
43:20
Speaker 2: the more concerning. Her disappearance in broad daylight. You know
43:27
Speaker 2: now on a week, a week has gone by.
43:31
Speaker 8: This is very, very concerning victimology.
43:34
Speaker 1: Amy Hilliard blonde here, Hazel lies five to four, about
43:37
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty pounds. She was wearing a tan
43:40
Speaker 1: colored top and tan pants. If you know or think
43:46
Speaker 1: you know anything about Amy Hilliard's startling disappearance, please dial
43:53
Speaker 1: Oakland PD five one zero two three eight three six
43:58
Speaker 1: four one five one zero two three eight three six
44:04
Speaker 1: four one. As the family is begging for neighbors and
44:09
Speaker 1: beyond to check surveillance video. We wait as justice unfolds.
44:15
Speaker 1: There is a portal on the Bring Amy Home website
44:18
Speaker 1: for neighbors to submit those videos and tips. Nancy Gray
44:23
Speaker 1: signing off, goodbye friend,