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A New Mexico Teen Disappeared Without a Trace in 2004 — Her Sister Is Still Searching for Answers · Murder Files Unsealed

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the deep dive. Today, we're digging into a
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really tough case, one that well, it highlights some serious failures,
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but also maybe surprisingly incredible determination from one person. We're
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talking about the disappearance of Alyssa Marie Turney.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, this one's deeply rooted in Phoenix, Arizona. It stretches
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over what twenty two years now. Alyssa was just seventeen,
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vanished from Paradise Valley May seventeenth, two thousand and one,
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right on the last day of her junior year of
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high school.
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Speaker 1: And Melyssa, from everything we've gathered, she sounds like she
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was just full of life, described as incredibly social, loved
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art drawing, she wanted to be a hairstylist.
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Speaker 2: A typical break teenager really. But the mystery starts almost
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immediately because she disappeared, leaving this very brief note said
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I love you all, I'm sorry, I'm running away. Don't
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look for me.
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Speaker 1: That note it's kind of the crux of the whole
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initial problem, isn't it.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely it shaped the entire initial response, or lack thereof.
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So our mission today, it's well, it's complicated. We need
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to untangle this mess of fans only secrets, look at
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all the red flags that just frankly missed back in
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two thousand and.
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Speaker 1: One, and really focus on the just astonishing effort by
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her half sister, Sarah Turney, over two decades, fighting.
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Speaker 2: For answers exactly. That fight is central to this story.
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Speaker 1: So the big question right at the start is why
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why did the Phoenix police see that note and just
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classified as a runaway? Pretty much case closed right then,
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especially when even at that moment there were things suggesting
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it wasn't that simple. Foul play seemed possible from day one,
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didn't it?
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Speaker 2: It really did, And that initial misstep is it's critical
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you have to remember two thousand and one protocols for
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missing teens, especially seventeen year olds. With a note like that,
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they were much looser than today. The note gave them
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an out, almost.
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Speaker 1: An excuse to not dig deeper.
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Speaker 2: You could say that, But the things Alyssa left behind,
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I mean her cell phone, her purse, her bank card,
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even her favorite stuffed animals. These aren't just sentimental things
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for a seventeen year old.
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Speaker 1: No, that's your connection, your money, your independence.
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Speaker 2: Precisely, if you're running away for good, spontaneously, you don't
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leave behind everything you need to actually survive and communicate.
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That was the first major red flag screaming foul play.
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Speaker 1: But it was minimized, ignored.
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Speaker 2: Really tragically.
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Speaker 1: Yes, it's incredibly frustrating. Yeah, and to understand why she
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might have wanted to leave, but also why leaving those
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items makes no sense, we need to look at the
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home environment, specifically the control exerted by her stepfather, Michael Turney.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. The family history is key here, Let's just lay
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it out. Alyssa was born in eighty four. Her biological
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parents divorced when she was young, about three. Her mother,
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Barbara remarried Michael Turney. He was a former Maricopa County
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Sheriff's deputy. Michael adopted Alyssa and her older brother.
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Speaker 1: John, so it became a blended family, right.
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Speaker 2: Eventually there were six kids in the house. Sarah Turney
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the half sister who becomes so important later. She was
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the youngest, Michael and Barbara's only biological child together.
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Speaker 1: And Alyssa remember her mom fondly right said she made
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everything fun.
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Speaker 2: She did. Those early years seemed relatively happy, according to
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Lyssa's memories, but then tragedy struck in.
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Speaker 1: Nineteen ninety three, Barbara passed away.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, cancer, she was only thirty nine. Alissa was just
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nine years old. And this loss, it seems to be
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the turning point. Sources suggest Michael's behavior changed drastically. Yeah,
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so his parenting style went from maybe stern to aggressively controlling,
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very authoritarian, and heavily influenced, it seems by his law
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enforcement background. Control became paramount.
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Speaker 1: We're not just talking strict rules. This is where it
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gets really really disturbing.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. The surveillance, oh absolutely, it wasn't just you know,
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keeping an eye on things. Michael set up what can
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only be described as a personal surveillance state inside their
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own home.
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Speaker 1: It's hard to even picture. What did that actually.
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Speaker 2: Involve, kidding, cameras everywhere, not just security cameras you might see,
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but tiny ones hidden inside air conditioning vents, in bedrooms,
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in private spaces, in the vents. And it didn't stop there.
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He even put a camera at her work. The local
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Jack in the Box claimed it was for safety safety.
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Speaker 1: That sounds incredibly invasive. How did Alyssa react to living
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like that knowing she was constantly watched?
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Speaker 2: It was psychological warfare essentially. He didn't just record. He
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obsessively watched the footage, often zooming in on Alyssa, especially
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when she interacted with boys or anyone really who might
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challenge his control.
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Speaker 1: So friends and family noticed this. They must have found
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it weird.
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Speaker 2: Deeply disturbing is how they described it. They saw it
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as control, not safety, electronic bondage almost And.
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Speaker 1: There's that specific, awful example with her boyfriend Jonathan.
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Speaker 2: Lightman, Right, Michael didn't just spy on their dates. He
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apparently used information he got from the hidden camera, specifically
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that Alyssa had kissed someone else and revealed it to Jonathan.
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Speaker 1: That's actively sabotaging her relationships, using surveillance as.
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Speaker 2: A weapon, exactly. It's about destroying her autonomy, keeping her
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isolated under his control. Alyssa told friends she felt suffocated.
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Did her journal entries they hint at this deep frustration,
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this desire to escape, maybe go to California to live
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with an aunt.
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Speaker 1: And it wasn't just video. He admitted to wiretapping the
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phones too, Yes.
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Speaker 2: Later admitted to it, recording calls in the house without
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anyone's consent. This constant pervasive monitoring, that's the backdrop to
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her disappearance. You have to remember that context.
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Speaker 1: It makes that supposed runaway note feel very different.
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Speaker 2: Very different, and it connects to her aunt, Michelle Stottlemeyer.
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She noticed Alyssa seemed distressed, pleaded with Michael to ease
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up a.
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Speaker 1: Bit, and the wiretaps caught something crucial, didn't.
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Speaker 2: They They did. Later investigators found logs showing Michael monitored obsessively,
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and they caught a call where Alyssa whispered to her aunt,
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I'm okay, but he's watching me chilling.
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Speaker 1: That's not someone planning to run away happily. That's someone afraid.
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Speaker 2: It's the language of someone under duress.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely, So this whole picture just demolishes that initial police theory.
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She wasn't just some troubled kid acting out. She had
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good grace, aibes, a job, she was saving for a car,
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her ticket to independence. As sources put in, she.
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Speaker 2: Was actively planning her escape from that environment, building a future,
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not just vanishing into thin air.
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Speaker 1: Okay, So let's get to the day itself. May seventeenth,
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two thousand and one. What happened?
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Speaker 2: Well, the morning seemed totally normal. Alyssa went to her
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morning classes at Paradise Valley High. She was talking with friends,
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making plans for summer parties, just typical end of school
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year's stuff.
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Speaker 1: Nothing out of the ordinary at all. Nothing.
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Speaker 2: But then lunchtime hits. Michael picks her up from school
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as they'd arranged, drives her home to Sweetwater Avenue. And
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this this is where only Michael's story exists for what
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happened next.
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Speaker 1: Is version of events which has always been disputed.
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Speaker 2: Highly disputed. He claimed they got into a big argument
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right away about her wanting to go to a pool
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party that night. Okay, he said she got angry, stormed
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out around one thirty pm, yelled something like she was
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done with the family, left with a small bag and supposedly.
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Speaker 1: That note, and he claimed he looks for her.
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Speaker 2: Said he searched the neighborhood, found nothing. That's his entire
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account of her vanishing.
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Speaker 1: But again, the things left behind argue against that.
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Speaker 2: The phone, the purse, the money, the stuffed animals, and
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her friends confirmed she was really looking forward to that
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pool party, had her outfit picked out. It doesn't track
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with storming out forever.
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Speaker 1: No, If she left, maybe she planned to come back
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or was expecting to.
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Speaker 2: That seems much more likely or she never left willingly at.
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Speaker 1: All, and her sister Sarah, who was only twelve, then
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she felt something was wrong immediately.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, Sarah remembered coming home from school all excited for
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summer break finding Alissa gone. She said she doubted her
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dad's ran away story right from the start, even at twelve.
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It didn't feel right to her.
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Speaker 1: So Michael reports her missing that evening. Police arrived the
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next day, May eighteenth, and.
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Speaker 2: They see the note see she's seventeen, and bam, runaway case.
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Detective William Anderson later admitted, you know, runaways weren't prioritized
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like today, which meant no Amber alert, no major crime
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scene investigation at the house. The urgency just wasn't there
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a tragic consequence of that initial classification.
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Speaker 1: And in the weeks and months that followed, there was
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no sign of.
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Speaker 2: Her anywhere, absolutely none, Her bank accounts untouched, social Security
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number never used again. You simply can't live off the
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grid for decades like that, especially starting with no resources.
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Speaker 1: Okay, but then Michael adds another layer to this story
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a week later, the California phone call.
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Speaker 2: Ah Yes, the phantom call on May twenty fourth, about
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a week after she vanished, Michael claimed he got a
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collect call from a payphone in.
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Speaker 1: California and Alyssa was on the line.
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Speaker 2: He claimed it was Alyssa, that she basically cursed him
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out and hung up, conveniently reinforcing the idea she'd run
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away and specifically to California, where she'd mentioned wanting to go.
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Speaker 1: Sounds almost too convenient, like he was trying to direct
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the narrative.
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Speaker 2: Well, investigators eventually pulled the phone records and guess what,
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no call, no such collect call ever happened. It was
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a complete fabrication, a demonstrable lie told to police early
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in the investigation.
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Speaker 1: That's huge. He's actively misleading.
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Speaker 2: Them, absolutely, And add to that, the officers who interviewed
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him back then, they noted his demeanor. He seemed weirdly calm.
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No tears, just frustration.
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Speaker 1: Not the reaction you'd expect from a distraught father.
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Speaker 2: Not typically no, especially given his controlling nature. That lack
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of visible grief, combined with the fabricated call is another
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massive red flag. But despite all this, the case just
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sat there for seven years.
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Speaker 1: Seven years frozen as a runaway case because of that
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initial failure, and it took something completely unrelated and frankly
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bizarre to even get eyes back on.
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Speaker 2: It pretty much. Fast forward to two thousand and eight,
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a convicted serial killer, Thomas Heimer, who was already serving
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life for other murders, suddenly confessed.
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Speaker 1: He confessed to killing Melissa.
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Speaker 2: Yeah claimed he picked her up, hitchhiking, strangled her, buried
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her in the desert. He even led police to a
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spot where he said he buried her.
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Speaker 1: That sounds like a potential break, even if it's grim.
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Speaker 2: It did initially, but police investigated thoroughly. Heimer's story started
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falling apart. He confused details about Alyssa with another one
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of his victims.
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Speaker 1: And the hitchhiking part didn't fit Alyssa's profile at all.
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Speaker 2: Well, not remotely. Her friends were adamant, given how controlled
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her life was, how cautious she likely was because of Michael,
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she was definitely not the hitch hiking type.
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Speaker 1: So a dead end, but it served a purpose.
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Speaker 2: A crucial one. According to Detective Anderson. Even though Heimer's
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confession was false, he said it reopened everything. It forced
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investigators to pull out that dusty file and look at
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it again with fresh eyes.
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Speaker 1: And that reopening led indirectly to the biggest discovery yet
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later that same year.
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Speaker 2: Exactly the weapons raid. This is what completely shifts the
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perception of Michael Turney. Late two thousand and eight, detectives
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raid the attorney House.
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Speaker 1: But not specifically looking for evidence related to ALYSSA.
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Speaker 2: No, it was based on an unrelated tip about illegal weapons.
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What they found, though, was well staggering.
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Speaker 1: More than just a few guns, oh far.
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Speaker 2: More nineteen assault rifles, twenty six pipe bombs, two silencers.
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Speaker 1: Pipe bombs twenty six of them, yes.
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Speaker 2: And perhaps most disturbingly, a ninety eight page manifesto detailing
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Michael's grievances and apparent plans against his former employer, the
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International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
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Speaker 1: This pants a picture of someone deeply paranoid, potentially planning
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violence on a large scale.
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Speaker 2: Unquestionably, he pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the explosives,
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got ten years in prison. He was released in twenty seventeen.
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Speaker 1: But for the ILLISA case, what did the raid uncover?
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Speaker 2: Critically, it confirmed what investigators likely suspected. The surveillance tapes
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from around May seventeenth, two thousand and one, were gone missing,
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and Michael's explanation he claimed they'd just been routinely overridden,
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taped over standard procedure, he implied, which.
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Speaker 1: Sounds plausible maybe until you consider everything else exactly.
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Speaker 2: You have the guy obsessed with filming everything, who lied
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about the phone call, who has an arsenal of illegal bombs,
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claiming the one piece of evidence that could show exactly
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what happened that day just happened to be erased.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. The prosecution later argued he deliberately destroyed them because
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they showed something incriminating.
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Speaker 2: That became the core theory. The tapes would have contradicted
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his story, maybe shown Alyssa never left the house, or
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showed him doing something to her. Their absence became evidence
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against him.
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Speaker 1: And the raid also confirmed the wire hats were real.
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Speaker 2: Yes, they found The logs confirmed he was obsessively monitoring calls,
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including that chilling one where Alyssa whispered to her aunt,
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he's watching me.
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Speaker 1: So all this together, the lies, the control, the missing tapes,
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the bombs. It finally forced the police to change their approach.
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Speaker 2: It did. The Phoenix PD Missing Persons Unit officially reclassified
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Alyssa's case no longer a runaway, now a suspicious.
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Speaker 1: Homicide, and Michael Turney was the prime.
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Speaker 2: Suspect, the only suspect. Really. Their reasoning was clear. His
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pattern of behavior, the surveillance, the control, It bordered on predation.
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It pointed directly at him.
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Speaker 1: Even his other children started speaking out around this time,
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didn't they.
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Speaker 2: Yes. Alissa's half brother, James Turney was very direct. He
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called his father's behavior a pattern of abuse textbook. The
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family itself was starting to fracture publicly over this.
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Speaker 1: So the circumstantial case against Michael was building powerfully even without.
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Speaker 2: A body, immensely powerful. But it took another force entirely
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to push it towards actual charges, and that force was
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Sarah Turney.
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Speaker 1: Right. We need to talk about Sarah's transformation, because she
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didn't initially suspect her father did.
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Speaker 2: She no, quite the opposite, and it's important to understand
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that initial loyalty. When Michael was arrested on the weapons
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charges in two thousand and eight, Sarah, who was still
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a teenager, actually believed he was innocent. She started a
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free Michael Turney website. She thought the raid was a setup,
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a frame job.
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Speaker 1: Wow. That shows the level of manipulation she must have
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experienced growing.
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Speaker 2: Up, It really does. But that belief didn't last. As
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she got into her twenties, something changed. She decided to
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find out the truth for herself. Wow, she got access
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to the entire police case file from Phoenix PD, all
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three thousand pages of it, and she just dove in,
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meticulously went through everything.
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Speaker 1: Essentially doing the deep investigation herself.
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Speaker 2: That's exactly what she did, and she started finding the inconsistencies,
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the lies her father told, the phantom California call. She
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saw the proof it never happened, the claim the tapes
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were overwritten versus likely destroyed. And that detail about the truck, Yes,
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that was significant too. She discovered Michael had sold the
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family truck very quickly, suspiciously soon after Alyssa vanished, a
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truck that could have potentially been used in a crime
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or cover up.
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Speaker 1: But the home videos that seemed to be the real
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turning point for her.
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Speaker 2: Personally, absolutely devastating for her. She watched old family videos,
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footage she hadn't seen through this new lens, and she
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saw things like Michael filming Alyssa while she was showering,
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making inappropriate comments about her body. Oh my god, it
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reframed everything, Sarah said, Everything I see now is in
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a different light. That realization that the father she defended
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might have been a predator towards her sister. That fueled
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her public fight.
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Speaker 1: So she decided to take this public. How did that start?
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Speaker 2: Well? The story got some traction in twenty seventeen with
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a podcast called Missing Alyssa by journalist otavia's Apalla that
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interviewed friends highlighted Alyssa's fear.
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Speaker 1: But Sarah really took control of the narrative herself, didn't she.
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Speaker 2: She did, That's the key. In June twenty nineteen, she
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launched her own podcast, Voices for Justice, and she dedicated
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the entire first season to Alyssa, methodically laying out the timeline,
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the evidence, her father's surveillance. Her quote nobody looked for her,
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not family, not police, really resonated.
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Speaker 1: And then came TikTok, which just exploded the case into
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the mainstream.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, twenty twenty was the year it went viral. Her
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TikTok videos were raw, direct often titled things like my
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dad killed my sister millions of views.
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Speaker 1: What made them so powerful?
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Speaker 2: Do you think it was the evidence? She used actual
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video clips from those wiretaps. You could hear Michael grilling
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Alyssa about boys photos of the pipe bombs. It wasn't
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just her talking, it was showing the proof, making it visceral, undeniable.
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Speaker 1: The pressure must have become intense, immense.
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Speaker 2: Her online petition demanding a murder trial got over three
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hundred thousand signatures, and then critically, Michael's other kids, all
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five of them, publicly backed Sarah and accused their father.
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James repeated, we know what he did.
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Speaker 1: That family unity against him must have been huge.
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Speaker 2: It was in all this pressure, driven by Sarah's relentless advocacy,
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finally worked. It forced the Maricopa County Attorney's office to
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take the case to a grand jury, and.
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Speaker 1: They got an indictment August twenty twenty.
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Speaker 2: Yes, Michael Turney was indicted for second degree murder, arrested.
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He spent the next three years in jail waiting for
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his trial. It felt like a massive victory finally for
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Sarah and everyone who believed Alyssa deserved justice.
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Speaker 1: A victory hard won through sheer determination and public pressure.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely, But then came the trial in twenty twenty three,
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and the outcome, well, it was shocking and a really
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stark lesson in how circumstantial evidence works or sometimes doesn't.
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Speaker 1: In court, Okay, let's unpack the trial. July twenty twenty three,
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the prosecution lays at his case. What was their core argument?
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Speaker 2: It was entirely built on that narrative of obsession and control.
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They focused on Michael's history, the intense surveillance, the fact
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Alissa left behind essentials contradicting a runaway story, his suspicious
17:27
actions after she vanished, selling the truck, the missing tats.
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Speaker 1: They argued he had the motive of losing control as
17:32
she neared eighteen, and the opportunity being the last person
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known to see her exactly.
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Speaker 2: They painted a picture where her disappearance could only realistically
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be explained as a homicide committed by him.
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Speaker 1: And the witnesses. Detective Anderson testified yes.
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Speaker 2: Anderson detailed the surveillance, Michael showing up early at her
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job to monitor her. Jonathani Likeman, the ex boyfriend, testified
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about the betrayal Michael using hitting camera footage against Alissa.
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Speaker 1: And Sarah testified too.
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Speaker 2: She did. It was incredibly emotional. She talked about Elyssa's
18:00
desire to leave, but her fear of leaving Sarah behind.
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Alyssa wanted to leave, but she refused to leave me behind.
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It highlighted the pressure Alyssa was under and potentially the
18:10
trigger for Michael's actions.
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Speaker 1: So the prosecution built a strong, circumstantial case based on motive, opportunity,
18:17
and suspicious behavior.
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Speaker 2: They did, but the defense, led by Jamie Jackson, had
18:21
a clear strategy attack the lack of physical.
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Speaker 1: Proof, the nobody no crime defense.
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Speaker 2: Essentially pretty much, Jackson hammered on it relentlessly. Nobody, no
18:31
confirmed crime scene, no DNA linking Michael directly to a murder.
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Their argument was simple, this is a runaway story twisted
18:38
into murder.
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Speaker 1: They argued. The prosecution hadn't definitively proven Alyssa was even dead,
18:43
let alone murdered by Michael.
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Speaker 2: Precisely, and the missing surveillance tapes ironically became a defense tool.
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They argued, Well, maybe the tapes would have shown her
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walking out the door without them, There was no definitive
18:55
proof she didn't leave willingly.
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Speaker 1: So the absence of evidence cut both ways.
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Speaker 2: It created sliver of reasonable doubt. Legally speaking, Michael also testified.
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Speaker 1: What did he say?
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Speaker 2: Denied everything, basically denied the abuse, claimed he only filmed
19:09
Alyssa at work because get this she asked me to
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for her first job memories.
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Speaker 1: Seriously, that contradicts everything else. Note about the.
19:17
Speaker 2: Surveillance completely right, but it offered the jury, or in
19:21
this case, the judge, an alternative, however flimsy, but the
19:25
jury never got to weigh it right.
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Speaker 1: This is the shocking part the rule twenty motion.
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Speaker 2: Yes, after the prosecution finished presenting its evidence, the defense
19:34
filed what's called a Rule twenty motion for judgment of acquittal.
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Speaker 1: Explain that for us, what does that mean?
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Speaker 2: It's basically the defense saying to the judge, your honor,
19:41
the prosecution hasn't even presented enough evidence that, even if
19:45
the jury believed all of it could legally support a conviction.
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There is insufficient evidence to even let the jury decide.
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Speaker 1: It's a high bar to meet, and the judge agreed.
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Speaker 2: Judge Sam Myers agreed. On July eighteenth, twenty twenty three.
19:57
He granted the motion and dismissed the second Dreamer charge
20:00
just like that, tryal over.
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Speaker 1: Before it even went to the jury.
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Speaker 2: Wow exactly. His reasoning was that the state's evidence, while suspicious,
20:08
didn't rule out other possibilities like Alyssa running away and
20:11
meeting harm later or dying by suicide or accident unrelated
20:15
to Michael. Without a body or the tapes proving she
20:18
never left, the direct link to murder by Michael wasn't
20:21
legally sufficient in his view.
20:23
Speaker 1: So Michael Turney walked out of court a free man.
20:26
Speaker 2: He did told reporters briefly he'd lost his family. Sarah
20:30
understandably was devastated, posted online. Justice delayed is justice denied,
20:36
but I won't stop.
20:37
Speaker 1: And legally that's it for the criminal case.
20:40
Speaker 2: Double jeopardy pretty much double departy applies. He can't be
20:44
tried again for Alyssa's murder on the same evidence or charges.
20:47
It would take something major, like finding her remains and
20:49
directly linking them to him to potentially reopen criminal proceedings.
20:53
Speaker 1: That's just a gut punch after everything Sarah and the
20:55
family went.
20:55
Speaker 2: Through a terrible blow. But the acquittal in a strange way,
20:59
actually brought more attention to the case. It sparked outrage. Also,
21:03
major news outlets picked it up. ABC's twenty twenty did
21:06
a special Since You've Been Gone dateline, NBC ran the
21:10
day Alyssa disappeared later in twenty twenty three. The injustice
21:14
felt by many kept the story alive and the suspicion
21:17
on Michael very public.
21:19
Speaker 1: And there was that oxygen docusriies too.
21:21
Speaker 2: Family Secrets Right in twenty twenty four, that series used
21:24
even more home video footage, stuff not seen before, really
21:28
showing Michael's manipulation, like him coaching the girls on camera
21:31
to say everything's fine. Sarah felt it helped break through
21:34
years of his gas lighting.
21:35
Speaker 1: So looking back, why did the prosecution and Alyssa's family
21:39
feel so sure despite the lack of a body. It
21:42
really comes back to motive, doesn't it.
21:44
Speaker 2: It has to be motive and the pattern of behavior.
21:46
The core belief is Michael needed total control. Alyssa turning seventeen, dating, working,
21:51
planning to leave that was an existential threat to his control.
21:54
Speaker 1: And the circumstantial evidence, even if it didn't meet the
21:56
Rule twenty standard, it's still incredibly strong in the court
21:59
of public.
21:59
Speaker 2: Opinion, overwhelmingly So you have the deliberate destruction of evidence,
22:04
those tapes, the illegal bomb cash showing volatility and planning,
22:09
the untouched bank accounts completely refuting the runaway.
22:12
Speaker 1: Idea, and her friend's remembering her say if I disappear,
22:15
check on me. That's haunting.
22:17
Speaker 2: It's chilling. Combine that with him selling the truck quickly,
22:20
it paints a very damning picture regardless of the legal outcome.
22:24
Speaker 1: Michael himself, he's seventy six now, still claims he's.
22:27
Speaker 2: Innocent, maintains his innocence, says things like I'll never stop
22:31
searching for my daughter, but his other children publicly reject that.
22:35
James Turney put it bluntly.
22:36
Speaker 1: He knows where she is, so the criminal path seems
22:39
closed for now. But the story doesn't end there because
22:43
Sarah Turney hasn't stopped, not at all.
22:45
Speaker 2: Her search continues and her work has transformed. She turned
22:48
that personal tragedy into this really powerful advocacy.
22:51
Speaker 1: Voices for justice. The podcast is still going strong.
22:54
Speaker 2: Yeah into its fifth season. Now. She's covered dozens of
22:58
other cold cases. Using her platform to help other families.
23:01
She raises money for private investigators. Her TikTok following is huge,
23:05
over half a million. She really learned how to leverage media,
23:08
saying Alisa taught me to fight.
23:11
Speaker 1: It's incredible resilience, but the personal cost must be.
23:15
Speaker 2: Immense, unimaginable. She's been open about the toll, saying she
23:19
lost my sister and my father. She's talked about leading
23:22
therapy to process the years of manipulation and gaslighting. She's
23:25
writing a book, yeah, working on a book draft called
23:28
Justice for Alyssa. She collaborates with NCMEC, the National Center
23:32
for Missing and Exploited Children, and she's constantly active online
23:36
on X sharing updates reminding people to send any tips
23:39
to Phoenix PD the numbers six O two two sixty
23:42
two six one five to one, or they can contact
23:45
her directly.
23:46
Speaker 1: So, wrapping this up, what are the big takeaways for
23:48
you the listener? This case Alysatorney's disappearance. It's just such
23:52
a stark example, isn't it.
23:54
Speaker 2: It really is. It shows how badly things can go
23:56
wrong at the start, those lacks two thousand and one protocols,
23:59
the misclassification, and how that can cripple a case for decades.
24:03
Speaker 1: But it also shows the incredible power of one person,
24:07
Sarah Turney's advocacy. Her refusal to give up literally forced
24:11
the system to act, even if the final legal result
24:14
wasn't what she hoped for.
24:16
Speaker 2: Her fight ensured Alyssa wasn't just another forgotten face on
24:19
a missing person poster.
24:21
Speaker 1: So here's our final thought for you, the Rule twenty.
24:23
Acquittal and double jeopardy create a high legal wall, but
24:27
it's not necessarily the absolute end. If Alyssa's remains were found,
24:32
if new evidence.
24:32
Speaker 2: Emerged, it could potentially lead to civil lawsuits. Holding Michael
24:36
accountable in civil court is still a possibility. Or maybe
24:40
if new information suggested federal crimes crossing state lines, perhaps
24:45
something related to the explosives connected to her disappearance, the
24:48
FBI could potentially get involved.
24:50
Speaker 1: The key might still be out there. Someone might know something,
24:53
maybe recalling a detail about those missing tapes or the truck,
24:56
or something Michael said or did back in two thousand
24:58
and one. Could that knowledge, combined with what we've discussed today,
25:02
finally unlock the truth.
25:03
Speaker 2: The search is an over. Not while Sarah keeps fighting
25:06
the fight for Alyssa's memory and the hope of finding her,
25:09
absolutely endoors