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MISSING MARGARET HANLEY: NAVY VET AND GRANDMOTHER, FAMILY SUSPECTS SCAM · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Where is Margaret Hanlee? This
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: mother and grandmother, let me add is the US Navy
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: veteran who has been deployed all around the world protecting us,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: and now it's our turn to help her and her family.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Margaret Hanlee, twenty three year Navy veteran, mother and grandmother,
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  Speaker 1: disappears last scene in her own home.
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  Speaker 2: Was she a victim of some bizarre scam? Joining me?
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  Speaker 2: Not only Dave Matt.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Crime Stories investigative reporter Sergeant Josh Sterner of the Jacksonville
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Sheriff's Department who is on the road in his cruiser
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  Speaker 1: right now looking for her, but also her son Jomo Thompson.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Mister Thompson, thank you for joining us. You're joining us
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: from Kentucky. Tell me when you learned your mom is missing?
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: How did that happen?
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  Speaker 3: One of her brothers. She has eleven brothers and sisters
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  Speaker 3: and they communicate daily to kind of keep up with
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: each other, which I think is great. And they told me.
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  Speaker 3: One of my uncles told me the last that he
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: heard from her was on Monday the eighth, and he
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: alerted me to this on Wednesday. When I found out,
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  Speaker 3: I called one of her friends that regular visits her Oma,
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  Speaker 3: and she told me, yes, she hadn't heard from my
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  Speaker 3: mom either, and so that's when we called the police
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  Speaker 3: and try to figure out what's going on where she
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  Speaker 3: could be.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, let me understand something.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: I need to get the timeline perfectly reported, mister Thompson.
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  Speaker 1: You stated that one of her brothers called to you
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  Speaker 1: and said he last heard from her on the eighth.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: That would be February. But I have another conflicting report
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: that she was seen in her home February nine. Both
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: of those can be true. So when was the last
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: time of a siding. The uncle may not have spoken
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: to her since the eighth, but she may have been
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: sided on the ninth. Do you know the truth of that,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: mister Thompson.
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  Speaker 3: I know that police pulled her over on I believe
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  Speaker 3: it was the eighth. I have my notes here, pulled
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  Speaker 3: her over and for running a red light at four am,
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  Speaker 3: and I think they let her go with a warning.
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  Speaker 3: And that was the last siding of her as far
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  Speaker 3: as being in her home. Oma and her brother Omah
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  Speaker 3: said she hadn't seen her in like in over two weeks.
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  Speaker 3: So she said she had spoken with her, but hadn't
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  Speaker 3: seen her.
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  Speaker 2: Well, was your mom out at four am? Curious?
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  Speaker 3: I have no idea because my mom stays at home.
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  Speaker 3: The only place she really drives to is Walmart in
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  Speaker 3: her neighborhood. Doesn't like to drive. She likes to be
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: at home her activities or watching her soap operas the
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: Price is Right, and talking to her family. So the
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  Speaker 3: behavior of her being out and spotted in Gainesville and
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  Speaker 3: in Hinesville, Georgia is just very strange to us, and
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  Speaker 3: that's what we're trying to figure out what is going on.
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  Speaker 2: Mister Thompson, you are so correct.
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  Speaker 1: My mom, ninety four, lives with us, but when she
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: was still living on her own, she had like a
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  Speaker 1: little circle like we all do. We all have a
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  Speaker 1: parameter where we normally are. It can be the grocery store.
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  Speaker 1: My mom was the grocery store, the church piano classes.
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  Speaker 1: Grocery store, church piano classes. And if I had heard
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  Speaker 1: she was in a different city or out at four am,
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  Speaker 1: I would know something is very very wrong. You're absolutely correct,
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  Speaker 1: And I want to point out, mister Thompson, that we've
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: done a little checking into your mom. This lady, a
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: twenty three year Navy that went to her favorite places.
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  Speaker 2: She would go to the grocery store, she would go
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  Speaker 2: to Walmart.
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  Speaker 1: That's it, Okay, I don't understand what's happening.
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  Speaker 2: Tell me exactly, mister Thompson. Where is her home? What
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  Speaker 2: city is it? Hinesville?
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  Speaker 3: No, it's in Jacksonville, Georgia. She lives over.
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  Speaker 2: The Jacksonville, Georgia. Yes, and where's Jacksonville.
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  Speaker 1: Georgia For people that are not familiar with the geography
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  Speaker 1: of Georgia Duval County.
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  Speaker 3: Her address was in Southern Oaks. She lived on a
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  Speaker 3: street called Southern Oaks. And again, just a nice neighborhood,
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  Speaker 3: good people. They take care of each other there. So yeah,
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  Speaker 3: this is just again just all very alarming to us.
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  Speaker 3: She's deviated from the behavior she's exhibited in the last
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  Speaker 3: five years since we known her again retired. She goes
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  Speaker 3: for walks every now and then, but other then her
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: circle and going to the grocery store. This behavior is bizarre,
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  Speaker 3: which kind of leads me to believe that maybe she
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: was being scammed she was on the dress. I just
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  Speaker 3: don't know. I just really don't know. I hate to speculate.
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  Speaker 3: I'm just trying to keep my thoughts positive and optimistic
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  Speaker 3: that we will find her.
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  Speaker 1: The family not eating, the family not sleeping, They want
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  Speaker 1: their mother home.
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  Speaker 2: Fear grew. When the family tried calling.
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  Speaker 1: The victim in this case, Missus Hamley, aged seventy two,
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  Speaker 1: they couldn't reach her. She apparently left with her vehicle
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  Speaker 1: FAB nine.
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  Speaker 2: That's what we think. Well.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Jomo Thompson springs into action following a missing person's report
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: with local police. He checked her bank account and was
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: alarmed at what he found. What did you find in
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  Speaker 1: your mom's banking account, mister Thompson, Just.
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  Speaker 3: The dang question on the ninth, Like transactions like two
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  Speaker 3: hundred dollars, two hundred dollars, two hundred dollars taken out
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  Speaker 3: from TPUSA, which is a Hello Mobile company, So I
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  Speaker 3: think that was the maximum month she was allowed to withdraw,
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  Speaker 3: and then a withdrawal from Walgreens as well, five hundred dollars.
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  Speaker 3: And my mom very frugal. This again is just not
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  Speaker 3: like her. She had automatic withdrawal set up for her mortgage,
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  Speaker 3: her bills and things like that, and then she had
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  Speaker 3: her friend that would help her with groceries and she
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  Speaker 3: would write her checks and so those transactions were all
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  Speaker 3: pretty familiar until about a month ago. Then I just
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  Speaker 3: started seeing these weird charges in her bank account.
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  Speaker 2: You know what's interesting.
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  Speaker 1: I want to follow up with a Sergeant Josh Sterner
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  Speaker 1: is joining us right now. He is currently in the
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  Speaker 1: Georgia jurisdiction and he's flying down I ninety five right
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  Speaker 1: now in his search for seventy two year old Margaret Hanley.
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  Speaker 1: Sergeant Sterner, thank you for being with us, Thank you
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  Speaker 1: for taking time to publicize her photo and the tip line.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Let me give everybody the tip line right now while
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  Speaker 1: I've got the sergeant on the phone. Nine zero four
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  Speaker 1: six three zero zero five hundred nine zero four six
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  Speaker 1: three zero zero five hundred Margaret Hanley. She is a
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  Speaker 1: mother and she is a grandmother. Her family can't sleep,
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  Speaker 1: they can't eat.
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  Speaker 2: Where is mom?
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  Speaker 1: Sergeant Sterner, thank you for being with us right there
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  Speaker 1: when you've got a seventy two year old woman making
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  Speaker 1: these cash withdrawals from this place, in that place.
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  Speaker 2: Her Toyota rav four E.
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  Speaker 1: S M F twenty three E Elephant s Sally M
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  Speaker 1: mother F Frank two three E s m F twenty
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  Speaker 1: three To all of our trugger friends going up and
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  Speaker 1: down I nine seventy five eighty five. Look for this
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  Speaker 1: silver two thousand and one Toyota rav four. Please help us.
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  Speaker 1: How far could she have gotten? Back to Sergeant Josh Sterner,
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  Speaker 1: that's not right. Why is this little old lady, this
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  Speaker 1: grandma making all these cash withdrawal Sergeant.
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  Speaker 4: That's what we're trying to find out, Nancy. I appreciate
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  Speaker 4: you having me on here at this point. We're trying
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  Speaker 4: to get with the banks to see where these cash
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  Speaker 4: withdrawals came from. That way we can trace them. Working
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  Speaker 4: with our Economics Crime division who's used to doing these
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  Speaker 4: fraudulent charges, to see if they are fraudulent. That way
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  Speaker 4: we can get further investigative leads, so hopefully find out
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  Speaker 4: where Margaret is.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Dave mc seventy two year old Navy that grandma,
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  Speaker 1: it looks like she's going up with her wallet out
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  Speaker 1: to the ATM.
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  Speaker 5: Looks like she's going to make a withdraw it, Nancy.
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  Speaker 5: Now I don't know, missus, Hanley, but I'm looking at
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  Speaker 5: what appears to me to be a worried seventy two
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  Speaker 5: year old woman.
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  Speaker 2: Nancy.
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  Speaker 5: A couple of things you haven't mentioned so far. The
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  Speaker 5: family has found two large check receipts, one for ten
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  Speaker 5: thousand dollars and another for twelve thousand dollars. Not to
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  Speaker 5: mention in the days since she's been missing, these two
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  Speaker 5: hundred dollars withdraws being made. This is a very very
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  Speaker 5: frugal woman who does not waste money, watches her pennies,
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  Speaker 5: have her apparently looks like she's going to make a
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  Speaker 5: withdraw and looking very concerned to me.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, straight back to Sergeant Josh Sterner. He is with
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  Speaker 1: the Jacksonville Sheriff Department in Florida. He is flying down
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  Speaker 1: I ninety five right now. Everybody's searching for miss Margaret. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: I didn't know that a ten thousand dollars check and
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  Speaker 1: a twelve thousand dollars check. Was it made out to
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  Speaker 1: a person or to cash? Was that a withdrawal? If
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  Speaker 1: it's just a draw, that's not going to help me
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  Speaker 1: at all. But somebody had to cash it. What do
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  Speaker 1: we know about those big check sergeant.
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  Speaker 4: So those big checks were written but never cashed. Her
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  Speaker 4: account was never taking the money was never taken out
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  Speaker 4: of that account. It was written to actually an older
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  Speaker 4: gentleman in Texas, and we had Texas go out to
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  Speaker 4: his house and make meet with him. And he had
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  Speaker 4: no idea where the check, where the checks came from,
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  Speaker 4: and they actually took possession of one of the checks
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  Speaker 4: that he still had.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, this is a total scam. If the old guy
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  Speaker 1: in Texas is cleared, that means somebody is using his
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  Speaker 1: identity to get her money. See what I mean, Sergeant,
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  Speaker 1: how are they doing it?
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  Speaker 2: How are they doing it?
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  Speaker 1: I wonder if they backed out of the checks when
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: they realized the evidentiary problems with them, Sergeant Sterner, and
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  Speaker 1: started getting her.
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  Speaker 2: To get cash withdrawals. What do you think about it?
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: I mean, that's always a possibility. But at the same time,
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  Speaker 4: we know when she left her house on the eighth
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  Speaker 4: that she was by herself. We have a clerk in
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  Speaker 4: Bradford County, Florida that actually spoke with her and talked
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  Speaker 4: to her. She seemed to be fine. He helped her
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  Speaker 4: pump gas and then sent her on her way, and
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  Speaker 4: at the time she was by herself. And then we
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  Speaker 4: also have her up in Patterson, Georgia, which is just
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  Speaker 4: southwest of Hinesville, where her vehicle was last seen, and
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  Speaker 4: it appears on that video that she is also still
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  Speaker 4: by herself.
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  Speaker 1: So let me ask you this, what was the date
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  Speaker 1: she was spotted in Bradford County, Florida. I got the guess,
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  Speaker 1: and what was the date she was in Patterson, Georgia.
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  Speaker 4: So she started her travels on February seventh and traveled
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  Speaker 4: throughout the day and evening through the eighth. Time we
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  Speaker 4: have her on the eighth is around four thirty pm,
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  Speaker 4: I believe.
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  Speaker 2: And that was in Patterson, Georgia.
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  Speaker 4: That was in Hinesville before thirty pm. She was in
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: Patterson around between kenn eleven am.
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  Speaker 2: On mate, got it.
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  Speaker 1: Got it back to her son, Margaret Hanley's son, Jomo Thompson.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Thompson, again, thank you for being with us. This
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  Speaker 1: doesn't sound like your mother at all, not.
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  Speaker 3: One bit, Nancy. And that's just what's so concerning. What
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  Speaker 3: someone could have Puffsy said to her to spring her
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  Speaker 3: into this action, to do something that she hasn't done
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  Speaker 3: in quite some time, to you know, change up her schedule,
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  Speaker 3: to deviate to drive to all these places. My mom.
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  Speaker 3: I remember twenty years ago when I went to visit
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  Speaker 3: her when she was stationed in New Orleans, and she
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  Speaker 3: had apprehension about just coming to the airport to pick
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  Speaker 3: me up to take me back to the base. So again,
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  Speaker 3: just very much not like my mom. So I feel
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: like she was on to duress. But again I don't know.
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  Speaker 3: I'm just speculating, trying to keep my thoughts positive. All
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  Speaker 3: I care about is finding my mom. I don't care
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  Speaker 3: about the scam. I don't care about the money. We
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  Speaker 3: just want to get her home and that's our primary concern.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: I'm with you. I'm with you, mister Thompson. And another
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  Speaker 1: thing that everyone should know about your mom is she
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: does have some short term memory loss. I believe, and
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: I'm quoting you. If you ask what she had for
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: lunch today, she may not remember. But if I said, hey,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: where were you stationed ten years ago? She could tell you.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: That Florida has a Silver Alert that helps find missing
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: seniors that is in Florida. There are limited resources in
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: that jurisdiction. We are looking for this mom, this grandma
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Margaret Hanley to Sergeant Josh Sterner taking time to talk
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: to us tonight, Sergeant Sterner, what are you guys doing
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: to help find miss Margaret.
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: We're doing anything and everything we can. We've gotten with
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: the durou the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, so they can
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: help us as well as all the surrounding counties where
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: she was last seen. I'm just trying to scour and
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: put out be on the lookouts for her. And honestly, Nancy,
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: what you're doing with her story tonight, it's a help
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: because the more people that see her and see her vehicle,
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: that is more possibility. We have to have leads to
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: figure out where she is, and like mister Thompson said,
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: the ultimate goal if she ends up getting scammed, we
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: just want to know where she is and to find
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  Speaker 4: her safe.
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  Speaker 2: Also, guys, this little lady went all around the world
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: for her country.
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  Speaker 1: She was posted from my dad was posted in Guam,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: and she's been everywhere protecting our country, and now we
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: need to protect her. Her family can't sleep, they can't eat.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: They're looking for their mother. If you know or think
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: you know anything about her or her, so rav four
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: E elephant S Sally M Mother F Frank twenty three,
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  Speaker 1: please dial nine zero four six three zero five hundred
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: repeat nine zero four.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Six three zero five hundred.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: She could be on the side of the road, she
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: could be crashed, she could be carjacked, please look for
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: missus Margaret.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Thank you to Dave Mac. Thank you to.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Sergeant Josh Sterner from Jacksonville Sheriff's. Thank you to mister
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Thompson her Son representing her family. Thank you everyone for
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: joining us now and now help us find miss Margaret.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Nancy Gray signing off, Thank you friend,