Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / UNSOLVED: SICK RANSOM TEXTS -MISSING WOMAN'S FAMILY TOLD SHE'D BE "CHOPPED INTO PIECES"

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UNSOLVED: SICK RANSOM TEXTS -MISSING WOMAN'S FAMILY TOLD SHE'D BE "CHOPPED INTO PIECES" · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:00
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, the family of a missing
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Speaker 1: woman last seen running barefoot from a hotel, just told
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Speaker 1: she would be chalked into pieces and a sick ransom text.
0:21
Speaker 2: I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
0:23
Speaker 2: being with us.
0:24
Speaker 3: Leila Santanello is a young Tennessee mom living with her
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Speaker 3: boyfriend Michael and baby daughter Nova. Things take a turn
0:30
Speaker 3: when Laila and her boyfriend get into an argument and
0:32
Speaker 3: Layla leaves the house.
0:36
Speaker 4: And loc.
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Speaker 5: This is Leila Santanello, a young mother from Kingsport, Tennessee,
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Speaker 5: who hasn't been seen in nearly two years. Leayla is
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Speaker 5: mom to now four year old Nova Grace, who now
0:51
Speaker 5: lives with her grandmother, Jennifer Santanello. Jennifer, Layla's father George Emman,
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Speaker 5: and stepmother Britney Zeitler are all desperate to bring Laila
1:02
Speaker 5: home and reunite her with her daughter.
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Speaker 2: Where is Layelah? Again? Thank you for being with us
1:08
Speaker 2: tonight and our search for missing mom? Leelah? What do
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Speaker 2: we know? Joining me and Allstar panel to make sense
1:16
Speaker 2: of what we're learning right now? But first listen to this.
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Speaker 6: She had to sit on and there was a pink
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Speaker 6: Teddy Bear exactly like literally the same color and everything.
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Speaker 6: And he was sitting in the chair and.
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Speaker 4: He was holding her like this, right, and he had
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Speaker 4: his other.
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Speaker 2: Arm like this, She's in his lap. I took the
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Speaker 2: pink teddy.
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Speaker 4: Bear and I'll put it indybears.
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Speaker 2: You see Leela telling a story about her most precious prize,
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Speaker 2: and that would be her daughter, Nova Grace, talking about
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Speaker 2: a pink teddy bear. You know what, I want to
1:54
Speaker 2: see that one more time, guys. Look at Leelah now missing.
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Speaker 6: She had to suit on, and there was a pink
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Speaker 6: teddy bear exactly like literally the same color and everything.
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Speaker 6: And he was sitting in the chair and he was
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Speaker 6: holding her like this right, and the end of an arm.
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Speaker 4: Like this, she said his lap.
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Speaker 2: I took the pink teddy Bear and I put it
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Speaker 2: in teddybeary. Let me go straight out now to Leyelah's
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Speaker 2: father and stepmom, George Emmett and Brittany Zeiitler to both
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Speaker 2: of you. Thank you for being with us. George, tell
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Speaker 2: me about Leela when I see her singing along to
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Speaker 2: music or talking about her baby, Nova Grace. It's it's
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Speaker 2: hard to believe that she's out of Nova's life. I mean,
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Speaker 2: tell me about her. I understand she was a very,
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Speaker 2: very loving mother.
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Speaker 7: Yeah, she was a very loving mother. She loved her
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Speaker 7: daughter very much. She loved her family. She was always
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Speaker 7: doing things with her daughter. You know, she was always
3:01
Speaker 7: trying to strive to do better in life. So she's
3:06
Speaker 7: she's she's a wonderful person, and I just want.
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Speaker 8: Her back home.
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Speaker 2: What has it been like, George without her?
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Speaker 7: Miserable. I can't sleep, I can't think right. It's hard
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Speaker 7: to work. I got other kids I got to take
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Speaker 7: care of. It's just been very stressful. It's every parent's
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Speaker 7: worst nightmare.
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Speaker 2: Brittany is Wala's stepmother. Brittany, thank you for being with us.
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Speaker 2: What has it been like for you guys trying to
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Speaker 2: move forward? You've got Nova Grace that doesn't have her mother.
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Speaker 2: You're missing Layla. What has that been like since she
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Speaker 2: went missing?
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Speaker 4: It's been really difficult, especially on all of us. It
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Speaker 4: definitely impacted us in many different ways, especially with having
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Speaker 4: to take on a little girl that is definitely missing
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Speaker 4: her mom and needs her need to be met, or
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Speaker 4: that little girl she needs all the extra TLC that
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Speaker 4: she condentually get and we can all as a whole,
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Speaker 4: blended family give her the best life that we could
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Speaker 4: possibly give her at this time. I mean, we've learned
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Speaker 4: during this unexpected tragedy that we've been faced with. Life
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Speaker 4: doesn't stop. Life keeps going whether we want it to
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Speaker 4: or not. And we still have to pick up all
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Speaker 4: the pieces, and there's still a lot of work that
4:27
Speaker 4: has to get done, and we just keep holding on
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Speaker 4: to the little bit of hope that she is in
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Speaker 4: fact still out there.
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Speaker 2: You said something very striking, Brittany. I remember when my
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Speaker 2: fiance was murdered. I felt like the whole world had
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Speaker 2: just stopped. And then I look back and was stunned
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Speaker 2: to say that the world just kept turning. I was
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Speaker 2: the only one that stopped. It feels like everything froze
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Speaker 2: in time. George, what do you tell Nova Grace about
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Speaker 2: her mom? What does she ask?
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Speaker 7: She just basically, I guess, where's mommy, where's mommy? Where's mommy?
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Speaker 4: Looking not my mom?
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Speaker 9: Yeah, she doesn't really know. She was she was really young,
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Speaker 9: really young at the time we're talking to you, or
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Speaker 9: so she's was didn't really know much at that time.
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Speaker 4: But she is starting to question where her mom is
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Speaker 4: and in fact, do I have a mom? You know,
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Speaker 4: she'll see cartoons, she'll watch other kids call mom, dad whatnot,
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Speaker 4: you know, and here she is wondering where's my mom?
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Speaker 4: So she is starting to ask those questions, where where
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Speaker 4: is my mom? And of course we get stumps, all
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Speaker 4: of us too, and we try to you know, rechange
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Speaker 4: you know, the topic, and show her her face and
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Speaker 4: show great pictures of Leila and Nova together so she
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Speaker 4: can at least see the good times that they did
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Speaker 4: have together and just hope that she can have more.
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Speaker 2: Brittany, you just broke my heart to think of baby
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Speaker 2: Nova Grace saying do I even have a mom? Do
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Speaker 2: I have a mom? What did you do when she
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Speaker 2: said that?
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Speaker 4: When she just started talking about mom, I just sat
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Speaker 4: right back, all my tears and she's say, oh, you know,
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Speaker 4: you'll see mommy soon, and just try to redirect her
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Speaker 4: into a different topic or do something different, just to
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Speaker 4: kind of get that off the topic, because I honestly
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Speaker 4: don't know what to even say at this point. We
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Speaker 4: could say so much and we're going to run out
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Speaker 4: of things to say, and there's going to come a
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Speaker 4: point in time where what do we.
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Speaker 2: Say, guys? Uh? The family of a missing woman. Leela
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Speaker 2: last scene running barefoot from a hotel. I don't want
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Speaker 2: to put the cart before the horse. Let's start at
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Speaker 2: the beginning. Listen.
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Speaker 3: Just a few months after having her daughter, Nova Grace Leyla,
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Speaker 3: Sentinela loses her grandfather, with whom she was very close.
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Speaker 3: In the roller coaster of emotions between the joy of
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Speaker 3: becoming a new mom and the grief of doing so
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Speaker 3: without her grandfather, Layla leans on Michael Thompson for support.
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Speaker 3: The too quickly become inseparable, and Layla moves in with
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Speaker 3: Michael's family in Kingsport, Tennessee.
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Speaker 2: The grief that she went through when the grandfather died unexpectedly.
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Speaker 2: To Karen Start joining Me, renowned psychologist joining us out
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Speaker 2: of Manhattan, Manhattan, Radio trauma expert consultant at Karenstart dot com, Karen,
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Speaker 2: you never know how the loss of that father figure
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Speaker 2: or grandfather figure will affect you the rest of your life.
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Speaker 2: And for Leila, the loss of her grandfather was devastating.
7:54
Speaker 2: It was a real turning point in her life. I
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Speaker 2: have no.
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Speaker 10: Doubt, Nanti, that she was feeling that she she would
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Speaker 10: be able to share her daughter with him. She was
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Speaker 10: very very close to him and get them in many forms,
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Speaker 10: as you know, and in this case, with somebody so close,
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Speaker 10: it could have led to devastation. Here she is, she's
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Speaker 10: so confused. She loves her daughter and is excited, but
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Speaker 10: a tremendous loss and trauma when it came to her grandfather.
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Speaker 2: And you know, very often we don't understand why people
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Speaker 2: do the things they do when they're functioning with immense grief.
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Speaker 2: How did the death of the grandfather affect her.
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Speaker 4: George really really bad?
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Speaker 7: Uh, she wasn't really talking to nobody, wasn't eating right,
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Speaker 7: just crying, constantly, crying every day.
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Speaker 8: I've tried to hug her holder and love her.
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Speaker 4: She just didn't want to be bothered.
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Speaker 11: Really, we were.
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Speaker 4: Lucky enough to have her present when she found out
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Speaker 4: that her grandfather passed away. She was actually a majury
9:00
Speaker 4: taking her family vacation with Nova, her mom and the
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Speaker 4: mom's boyfriend. And I want to say we were more
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Speaker 4: fortunate enough to be there through that traumatic time in
9:13
Speaker 4: her life as a whole. And yes, she was very
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Speaker 4: devastated over the loss of her grandfather. Absolutely.
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Speaker 2: And you know, Karen, start with me, psychologist, you think
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Speaker 2: that someone it would be traumatized when they lose their
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Speaker 2: mom or their dad, which they are typically, But I
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Speaker 2: can identify that when I lost my grandmother, my mother's
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Speaker 2: mother who raised us, Lucy that I then named my
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Speaker 2: daughter after my grandmother raised us while my mom worked,
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Speaker 2: and we were extremely extremely close. So a lot of
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Speaker 2: people can't relate to someone falling apart when they lose
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Speaker 2: a grandparent, right, but for many of us, it can
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Speaker 2: be devastating.
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Speaker 10: Without a doubt, this is sort of a father figure
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Speaker 10: for her. Even though she had her dad and loves
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Speaker 10: her dad, she was extremely close to her grandfather, And
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Speaker 10: so you behavior that you have after a loss like that, Nancy,
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Speaker 10: anything is possible because you're in trauma. You're really feeling
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Speaker 10: extreme PTSD sometimes where you can't get over the event
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Speaker 10: and you can't get over the lost chap to come
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Speaker 10: to terms with it.
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Speaker 2: It also makes me think, of course, I'm just an
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Speaker 2: armchair psychologist. Don't like you, Karen start, but it makes
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Speaker 2: me wonder if that's not why she then got so
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Speaker 2: attached to the boyfriend Michael Thompson. Listen.
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Speaker 12: On Friday, June twenty third, Leayla gets in an argument
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Speaker 12: with her boyfriend Michael Thompson, and while the pair are
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Speaker 12: usually attached to the hip, Leayla takes off, leaving most
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Speaker 12: of her belongings, including the couple's shared phone behind. Layla
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Speaker 12: stays with several friends, but is not in contact with
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Speaker 12: family without her phone.
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Speaker 2: Oh my stars, this to me that starts the dominoes
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Speaker 2: falling when she leaves the boyfriend's place without a cell phone. Okay,
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Speaker 2: let me understand this, Brittany Zeidler. They were sharing one account.
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Speaker 4: Yes, they were working off of one working phone. The
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Speaker 4: other phone had a Wi Fi connected phone, so that
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Speaker 4: was when they were able to get a hold of
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Speaker 4: one another. Leila would stay behind, Michael would go run
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Speaker 4: his errands, and the sleep with one phone on the
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Speaker 4: one account for many months.
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Speaker 2: So those two were sharing one phone. Then that phone disappears.
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Speaker 2: That right there marks for me the beginning of a timeline.
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Speaker 2: Why because nobody can be in touch with her. Rick
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Speaker 2: Schaeffer joining me, former FBI supervisory special agent. I mean,
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Speaker 2: in this day and age, Rick, your cell phone, I mean,
11:52
Speaker 2: let's talk about the Alex Murdad case. For peace sake,
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Speaker 2: Murdod charged and the double murder of his wife and son,
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Speaker 2: Maggie and Paul, the digital footprint, the cell phone data
12:02
Speaker 2: of the NAV system in his vehicle told a story.
12:06
Speaker 2: I mean, as far as I was concerned, you put
12:09
Speaker 2: that one digital analyst on the stand case closed because
12:14
Speaker 2: it places murder like at the scene of the double murder.
12:18
Speaker 2: At the time of the double murder, you hear his
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Speaker 2: voice in the background of a video taken and then
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Speaker 2: with the nav system you see what time he leaves
12:26
Speaker 2: goes hies out at his grandmother's thirty minutes away. You
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Speaker 2: can even see where he slows down. Let's the window down. Yes,
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Speaker 2: you can tell that from a nav system and throws Maggie,
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Speaker 2: his now dead wife's phone out the window and then
12:39
Speaker 2: takes off. You can tell all that from modern digital science.
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Speaker 2: So when you don't have a phone that greatly greatly
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Speaker 2: impedes a criminal investigation, absolutely.
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Speaker 8: Or absolutely correct. Not only are you going to be
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Speaker 8: able to determine where that phone is, but who's in
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Speaker 8: possession of it at time, not only from the cell
13:05
Speaker 8: tower it's painting off, but any metadata that can be
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Speaker 8: extracted from photos or text or anything.
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Speaker 10: Of that nature.
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Speaker 8: But it looks like the police department has done everything
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Speaker 8: they can from a cell phone data collection standpoint, looking
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Speaker 8: at cameras, any digital technology that would help track or whereabouts,
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Speaker 8: and the reality of it is is she's clearly vanished,
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Speaker 8: and that's a very difficult thing to do in today's
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Speaker 8: environment out there where everything is digitally captured.
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Speaker 3: Leila is last seen in an open field before seemingly
14:00
Speaker 3: vanishing into thin air. Now her family is looking for
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Speaker 3: answers as to the whereabouts of the young Tennessee momus.
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Speaker 2: And where is Leila after a sick money grab where
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Speaker 2: the family gets threatening ransom texts threatening to chop Lila
14:30
Speaker 2: into bits if money isn't forked over. This during the
14:35
Speaker 2: search for the missing mom As it goes on, we
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Speaker 2: were just describing how Leila and the boyfriend that she
14:45
Speaker 2: suddenly moves into after the death of her grandfather have
14:49
Speaker 2: an argument. They have an argument, she takes off without
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Speaker 2: a cell phone.
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Speaker 13: Then what happens Saturday morning? Michael, since Jennifer sendsanello a
15:01
Speaker 13: message on Layla's Facebook profile, Jennifer is immediately worried. It's
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Speaker 13: unusual that Michael wouldn't know where Layla is. Michael says
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Speaker 13: he hasn't seen Layla in more than twenty four hours,
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Speaker 13: Jennifer spent several hours trying to track Layla down. Layla
15:16
Speaker 13: isn't hospitalized anywhere. Finally, Jennifer's niece gets word from a
15:20
Speaker 13: mutual friend that Layla spent the night at his house
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Speaker 13: and was okay when she left.
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Speaker 2: Okay, so there. Even after she takes off without a
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Speaker 2: cell phone, which destroys everybody because they can't get in
15:32
Speaker 2: touch with her, we find out she's at a friend's house. Okay,
15:37
Speaker 2: everything is okay. But finally we actually hear from Leelah herself.
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Speaker 3: Sunday morning, Jennifer Sonanela wakes up to another Facebook message,
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Speaker 3: this time from Layla. Laylah says she's okay and doing fine,
15:52
Speaker 3: much to her mother's relief. Jennifer has a few questions,
15:55
Speaker 3: but when Layla is vague, Jennifer assumes it's because Layla
15:58
Speaker 3: knows Michael can access the count she doesn't want him
16:01
Speaker 3: to know where she is. Leyla reminds her mom that
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Speaker 3: she isn't carrying a phone, but she'll do her best
16:06
Speaker 3: to check in as much as possible. Jennifer's niece places
16:09
Speaker 3: Leila out of friends again, confirming Layla borrowed their phone
16:12
Speaker 3: to message her mom.
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Speaker 2: Okay, now we have a genuine lead. I was suspicious
16:18
Speaker 2: about those messages because they didn't sound like Leela, and
16:23
Speaker 2: I don't have to talk about Gabby Petito, who went
16:26
Speaker 2: on a cross country trip with fiance Brian Laundry. He
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Speaker 2: murdered her and was using her phone and her Fortransit
16:35
Speaker 2: and her credit cards and her money, and was texting
16:39
Speaker 2: odd texts. They wouldn't seem odd, probably to you or
16:42
Speaker 2: to me, but to the family that was getting them,
16:47
Speaker 2: they knew that wasn't Gabby. For instance, when she asked
16:50
Speaker 2: about her grandfather, she said, in my case, well how's
16:54
Speaker 2: Walter Malcolm and Grace Senior. She would never have said that.
16:58
Speaker 2: She would be saying, how's granddaddy? So they knew something
17:01
Speaker 2: was wrong. Well, they were right. It wasn't her texting.
17:04
Speaker 2: It was Brian Laundry trying to give the appearance that
17:06
Speaker 2: Gabby was still alive. However, in this case, there was
17:10
Speaker 2: another reason that Leela was not being forthcoming in her
17:14
Speaker 2: text to Britney Zeitler, her stepmom, and George Emmett, her
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Speaker 2: father to Brittany, apparently because they shared the same cell phone.
17:25
Speaker 2: And we had this occur recently in the case of
17:30
Speaker 2: glam yoga instructor Kaitlyn Armstrong, who murdered her boyfriend, Colin
17:36
Speaker 2: Strickland's former girlfriend out of a fit of jealousy. She
17:42
Speaker 2: the yoga instructor, was sharing an account with Colin Strickland,
17:45
Speaker 2: the boyfriend, so when he was texting the victim Maureen,
17:50
Speaker 2: she could see it all. She could see it all.
17:53
Speaker 2: It pop right up on her iPad, right, So here
17:57
Speaker 2: do you believe that was Leila messaging but that she
18:03
Speaker 2: was intentionally being vague because she shared that account with
18:07
Speaker 2: the boyfriend that she just walked down on. Yes.
18:10
Speaker 4: Absolutely, we really did think that it was Leela for
18:14
Speaker 4: the moment. So we you know, we're like, Okay, maybe
18:18
Speaker 4: she doesn't want to know where she is at. He
18:22
Speaker 4: wants to stay away from her vice versa. So we
18:26
Speaker 4: just let it be at that moment in time. But
18:29
Speaker 4: when we didn't hear from her voice, we started to question.
18:34
Speaker 2: You know what about it, George, When you found out
18:37
Speaker 2: about that Facebook message I'm fine, I'm at so and
18:41
Speaker 2: so friend and then that was corroborated by someone else. Yes,
18:46
Speaker 2: that's where she has Everything's fine. At that point, you
18:50
Speaker 2: were not concerned, is that right? Yeah?
18:52
Speaker 14: At that point, I thought maybe she did get an
18:57
Speaker 14: argument with them and joh I didn't want to get
18:59
Speaker 14: away from them at first, but then when I tried
19:02
Speaker 14: to reach out to her and didn't get a response back,
19:05
Speaker 14: that's when I started getting a little nervous.
19:08
Speaker 2: The case moves forward. Now it's Monday morning. Monday morning,
19:12
Speaker 2: Michael Thompson is becoming more insistent that he can't find Layla,
19:16
Speaker 2: claiming she asked him to pick her up from a
19:18
Speaker 2: friend's house but wasn't there when he arrived. Jennifer still
19:22
Speaker 2: believes her daughter is avoiding Michael and doesn't want to
19:24
Speaker 2: tip him off to where she is.
19:26
Speaker 5: Michael then reaches out to Layla's dad, George Emmett, making
19:30
Speaker 5: him intensely worried.
19:31
Speaker 2: Okay, right there, when did you become concerned George? That
19:39
Speaker 2: something was a mess.
19:41
Speaker 9: When I texted her and I didn't get no response
19:43
Speaker 9: the next day, that's when.
19:46
Speaker 4: I was really worried because that's not like my daughter.
19:49
Speaker 7: She picks up for me and I'm no matter what.
19:53
Speaker 7: So that's when I really got worried and decided I
19:57
Speaker 7: was going to call and make a police report on
19:59
Speaker 7: my you.
20:00
Speaker 2: Know, I want to talk about what you just said.
20:02
Speaker 2: George joining me is Leila's father, George and stepmom. Brittany
20:08
Speaker 2: joining me now is a renowned defense attorney, Ben Powers.
20:13
Speaker 2: You can find them at legal Powers Online. Ben. Thank
20:17
Speaker 2: you for being with us. Ben. It's called routine evidence,
20:20
Speaker 2: and I don't like that description because it sounds like
20:24
Speaker 2: you're talking about the typical, run of the mill, standard evidence.
20:28
Speaker 2: But what it means is evidence of someone's routine.
20:32
Speaker 7: Right.
20:33
Speaker 2: A routine a routine that you unintentionally carry out or
20:38
Speaker 2: repeat every day. I do the same thing every single
20:43
Speaker 2: morning in an effort to get my children to school,
20:46
Speaker 2: take care of my mother who lives with us, take
20:48
Speaker 2: care of a multitude of pets before I can start
20:52
Speaker 2: my real job. Right. It's a routine that has been
20:56
Speaker 2: perfected to save time and accomplish things. Right. That's a routine.
21:00
Speaker 2: And here, when George Emmitt says she didn't call, a
21:03
Speaker 2: lot of people will go, hey, I don't hear from
21:05
Speaker 2: my daughter for two weeks at a time, and that's okay.
21:10
Speaker 2: I called my mom and dad, say what you want
21:13
Speaker 2: every single day in the morning and at night, at
21:15
Speaker 2: a bare of minimum. That has been my routine. I
21:19
Speaker 2: wanted to hear from them. I wanted to hear their voice.
21:21
Speaker 2: So routine evidence is very powerful, being powers. I guess
21:26
Speaker 2: some defense attorneys would argue it means nothing.
21:28
Speaker 11: I would say routine evidence can be important. But under
21:31
Speaker 11: these circumstances, the routine was clearly turned upside down and
21:35
Speaker 11: inside out. You know, she has a big argument with
21:38
Speaker 11: her boyfriend that they're basically attached at the hill because
21:42
Speaker 11: of extenuating circumstances, they're relegated to one phone instead of two,
21:47
Speaker 11: and so she could be separated from him and the phone.
21:50
Speaker 11: She could be separated from him with the phone. You know,
21:53
Speaker 11: that type of distinction in the timeline definitely throws the
21:56
Speaker 11: routine into question and isn't as reliable as maybe under
22:01
Speaker 11: regular circumstances that the routine usually exists within.
22:04
Speaker 6: She had to sit on and there was a pink
22:07
Speaker 6: Teddy Bear exactly like literally the same color and everything,
22:14
Speaker 6: and he was sitting in a chair and he was
22:15
Speaker 6: holding her like this right, and I'm like this just
22:19
Speaker 6: in his lap.
22:20
Speaker 4: I took the pink Teddy Bear and I put it in.
22:26
Speaker 2: Teddybears George with me. This is Loayla's dad. Why are
22:30
Speaker 2: you crying?
22:31
Speaker 6: Nice?
22:32
Speaker 9: Devastating that's been too long. It's very stressful on me,
22:39
Speaker 9: my family. I just it's a lot. That's why I'm crying.
22:45
Speaker 9: That's every parent's worst nightmare, you know.
22:47
Speaker 2: And I was thinking, George, after you know, my fiance
22:52
Speaker 2: was murdered, I never ever thought that I could ever remarry,
22:57
Speaker 2: that I would ever have children. I thought that was
23:00
Speaker 2: just a dream that was just over, and it was.
23:03
Speaker 2: It was for over twenty years. Then suddenly I have
23:11
Speaker 2: a family. Can I tell you the greatest thing that
23:17
Speaker 2: happened to me was having the twins. And let me
23:21
Speaker 2: see those videos in your control room. I mean, this
23:25
Speaker 2: was the time of Leela's life. She finally has Nova Grace,
23:33
Speaker 2: just the love of her life, finally happiness, she has
23:40
Speaker 2: this beautiful baby girl. I mean, I guess most moms
23:47
Speaker 2: out there would agree that's the best time of your
23:51
Speaker 2: life when you finally have your children. And to think
23:56
Speaker 2: she's snatched away from her daughter and now her daughter
24:00
Speaker 2: George has patures in these videos that's it and says
24:05
Speaker 2: things like do I even have a mommy? I mean,
24:09
Speaker 2: I get while you're crying.
24:11
Speaker 9: George, Yeah, she's all my granddaughter, is all I have
24:14
Speaker 9: left of my daughter as of now for two years. Oh,
24:19
Speaker 9: it's really hard and devastate.
24:22
Speaker 11: I just want to answers.
24:25
Speaker 4: Hell loove closure.
24:26
Speaker 2: Guys, we left off, we left off where George is
24:31
Speaker 2: now becoming extremely worried. Listen.
24:34
Speaker 12: George calls Jennifer to discuss whether they should report Layla missing.
24:37
Speaker 12: Extremely concerned after his last conversation with Michael based on
24:41
Speaker 12: her last text conversation with Laila, Jennifer doesn't want to
24:44
Speaker 12: jump the gun. The parents decide to report Layla missing
24:47
Speaker 12: the next morning, which will be forty eight hours since
24:49
Speaker 12: Layla's last contact with family. However, George can't shake the
24:53
Speaker 12: feeling he needs to do something, and after several sleepless hours,
24:57
Speaker 12: makes an official report that Laylah Santonello is missing in
25:00
Speaker 12: the early morning hours of June twenty seventh.
25:03
Speaker 2: So George, since Michael Thompson, the boyfriend and Layelah had
25:07
Speaker 2: been so close joined at the hip following her grandfather's death,
25:11
Speaker 2: When he is starting to ask you, where's Laila, you
25:16
Speaker 2: know something is really wrong. What prompted you to report
25:20
Speaker 2: her missing at that time?
25:22
Speaker 9: Well, when I couldn't get a hold of her and
25:25
Speaker 9: she didn't respond back to me, I already knew something
25:28
Speaker 9: was wrong, something, something was not right. So when he
25:32
Speaker 9: was reaching out to me and sending me text messages
25:34
Speaker 9: about not being able to find my daughter and everything,
25:37
Speaker 9: that just made it.
25:38
Speaker 4: Ten times worse for me.
25:39
Speaker 7: I mean I went right out there right away.
25:43
Speaker 9: We hired a private detective. We have a private detective
25:46
Speaker 9: that's been on the case since day one.
25:51
Speaker 4: We have a private detective.
25:52
Speaker 9: We've been We've drove from boys you Jorgey to Tennessee
25:57
Speaker 9: out several I can't many times already on behalf of
26:01
Speaker 9: my daughter.
26:02
Speaker 2: Then the searches on was George reports her missing and
26:06
Speaker 2: finally a lead listen.
26:09
Speaker 13: Kingsport Police immediately began investigating, speaking with Michael Thompson and
26:13
Speaker 13: his family around two am June twenty seventh. By the
26:16
Speaker 13: end of the day, investigators have a lead. Layla checked
26:20
Speaker 13: into the Americourt Hotel for the night of June twenty sixth.
26:23
Speaker 13: Employees and other guests say Lala seemed paranoid. Laila is
26:27
Speaker 13: caught on CCTV knocking on doors to look for someone.
26:31
Speaker 2: Join me now, a very special guest. Rebecca McNairy, reporter
26:35
Speaker 2: writer at Kingston Time News. Rebecca, thank you so much
26:39
Speaker 2: for being with us. So who was she looking for?
26:43
Speaker 2: Why are people there at the hotel describing her as
26:48
Speaker 2: afraid of something?
26:49
Speaker 14: You know?
26:50
Speaker 15: Going based off the facts that we have received from
26:53
Speaker 15: the Kingsport Police Department and other local authorities, we have
26:58
Speaker 15: not been sure of who specifically she was looking for.
27:02
Speaker 15: We know that witnesses testified that she was acting paranoid
27:07
Speaker 15: and looking for something, but the Kingsport Police Department has
27:11
Speaker 15: not released any specific details regarding that certain matter.
27:15
Speaker 2: You know, Rebecca McNary, you're so right speaking of a
27:19
Speaker 2: witness perceived good samaritan, this is what we learned. Please
27:24
Speaker 2: let me help you. I have a room, My mom,
27:27
Speaker 2: my son are inside. You can sit down. I will
27:30
Speaker 2: talk to you. How would do any tag him to
27:31
Speaker 2: help you?
27:32
Speaker 10: She froze for a moment, full a breath, and he
27:35
Speaker 10: was like, and she looked at my room, She looked
27:38
Speaker 10: at me, and then she said no, I can't and.
27:40
Speaker 4: She just ran out and through the part camat and
27:43
Speaker 4: that was a life I saw her.
27:44
Speaker 2: Is that right, Rebecca mnary? She this good Samarita said, look,
27:49
Speaker 2: what's wrong? Who are you looking for? Why are you afraid?
27:53
Speaker 2: And apparently Lila goes, no, no, I can't talk to
27:58
Speaker 2: you about it. It takes off running.
27:59
Speaker 15: Yeah, that is several witnesses accounts. I believe the police
28:04
Speaker 15: department and local authorities have told me that, but again
28:09
Speaker 15: I can't comment on that specifically because the police department
28:13
Speaker 15: has not come forward with that specific information.
28:17
Speaker 2: Where is a mom of one little nova grace we're
28:21
Speaker 2: talking about Layela? Do we finally have a bead or
28:25
Speaker 2: where she may be? And now is this a break? Listen?
28:29
Speaker 12: As police tried to determine Layla's next move, employees at
28:32
Speaker 12: the nearby warehouse provide another lead. Around six or fifteen
28:35
Speaker 12: in the morning, Layla asks if she can bump a cigarette.
28:38
Speaker 12: None of the men have smokes on them. Layla thanks
28:40
Speaker 12: them anyway and walks away. The men say Layla was
28:42
Speaker 12: perfectly polite and seemed coherent. Layla did appear slightly disheveled
28:47
Speaker 12: with messy hair and grass and leaves on her back,
28:50
Speaker 12: like she maybe had laid down in the field.
28:52
Speaker 2: Now, how does a marble slab creamery fit into this
28:58
Speaker 2: search for Laylah? We all know what that is very
29:01
Speaker 2: popular ice cream place a shop. Listen.
29:04
Speaker 5: An employee at a nearby ice cream shop, the Marble
29:07
Speaker 5: Slab says a blonde woman came into the store around
29:10
Speaker 5: noon on the twenty seventh, with no shoes on.
29:13
Speaker 2: She says.
29:14
Speaker 5: The woman was very disheveled, wearing a white T shirt
29:17
Speaker 5: and black luggings. The woman seems somewhat incoherent and made
29:20
Speaker 5: a comment about her husband wanting to kill her before
29:23
Speaker 5: asking to borrow the employee's phone. The woman walked back
29:27
Speaker 5: out of the store, saying she wanted to head to
29:29
Speaker 5: a nearby five below to buy shoes.
29:31
Speaker 2: When shown a photo of.
29:32
Speaker 5: Leila, the employee is convinced that's the woman she spoke to.
29:36
Speaker 2: Okay, we've all heard attacks on eyewitnesses, and in this
29:40
Speaker 2: particular case, we hit a dead end.
29:44
Speaker 13: Kingsport police intensely focused on the marble slab lead, checking
29:47
Speaker 13: with several more nearby establishments. Authorities believe they are zeroing
29:51
Speaker 13: in on Layla, but CCTV and phone records eventually proved
29:55
Speaker 13: the employee was mistaken about the woman's identity. Officers tracked
29:59
Speaker 13: the woman down, who confirms it was her in the
30:01
Speaker 13: ice cream shop that afternoon, not Leila. Santanello Ah Crime
30:12
Speaker 13: Stories with Nancy Grace.
30:18
Speaker 2: Joining me, investigative reporter and writer at the Kingsport time
30:23
Speaker 2: needs Rebecca McNairy, Rebecca, that's devastating to get an eyewitness tip.
30:31
Speaker 2: The woman is absolutely convinced this is Leelah that comes
30:35
Speaker 2: into Marble Slab Creamery and she's disproved. Tell me what happened.
30:40
Speaker 2: The woman was so convinced it was Leilah.
30:42
Speaker 15: Yeah, according to report, she was convinced that she had
30:46
Speaker 15: seen Layla. Again, the Kingsport Police investigated and that was
30:51
Speaker 15: indeed not the case based off the records and the
30:54
Speaker 15: surveillance footage that they had. But again, something like that
30:58
Speaker 15: where you think that you have a lead and then
31:01
Speaker 15: instead is definitely devastating for the family that's trying to
31:04
Speaker 15: bring Leila home.
31:05
Speaker 2: To Ben Powers joining US criminal defense attorney, Ben It's
31:10
Speaker 2: also bad for an investigation, a potential trial in the future,
31:14
Speaker 2: because when you get a lead, an eyewitness lead, and
31:17
Speaker 2: the woman is absolutely convinced she sees Layelah right later on,
31:23
Speaker 2: a defense attorney can say, see, she saw Layelah at
31:27
Speaker 2: this time on this date, and my client on trial
31:33
Speaker 2: now was here in another state or whatever fill in
31:36
Speaker 2: the blank. When you try, when you try a case,
31:42
Speaker 2: you have to go down every avenue to get to
31:45
Speaker 2: the truth. You can't leave anything out. But when you
31:48
Speaker 2: go down those avenues, for instance, if you name a
31:50
Speaker 2: person of interest or suspect too soon it turns out
31:52
Speaker 2: to be wrong, that's a field day for the defense,
31:56
Speaker 2: just like a false tip.
31:57
Speaker 11: Yeah, I would agree. I think the significance of the
32:00
Speaker 11: witness being mistaken as it shows that police went down
32:03
Speaker 11: the wrong thread. You know, it ultimately led to a
32:08
Speaker 11: Tom commitment from the investigation that ended with a dead
32:11
Speaker 11: end in the investigation. So then they've got to go
32:14
Speaker 11: back and figure out what direction do they take the investigation.
32:17
Speaker 11: And so now that tim, that effort, that dedication has
32:20
Speaker 11: been spent on something that wasn't fruitful. Oh yeah, and
32:24
Speaker 11: something like this. You know, Tom is the enemy of
32:27
Speaker 11: an investigation. The longer time goes on, the harder the
32:30
Speaker 11: investigation gets.
32:32
Speaker 12: Two weeks after Layla's disappearance, both mother and stepmother start
32:36
Speaker 12: getting cash apt requests from Layla's account, but the message
32:39
Speaker 12: is attached to the requests send chills down their spines.
32:43
Speaker 12: They're keeping me hostage. I owe someone fifteen minutes or
32:47
Speaker 12: you'll find her In pieces and the acronym TWLMG panics.
32:53
Speaker 12: The women send various amounts of money with messages like
32:56
Speaker 12: are you okay and call me in the hopes that
32:59
Speaker 12: Laila would see them, also reporting the activity to Believes.
33:03
Speaker 2: Oh my Stars, sick ransom text to Leilah's family, George Emmitt,
33:09
Speaker 2: what happened.
33:10
Speaker 9: At that point? We got really scared, We got really nervous,
33:14
Speaker 9: and we were willing to do whatever it took to
33:18
Speaker 9: try to get a hold of her.
33:19
Speaker 2: At that point. I mean, in all of her history,
33:22
Speaker 2: had Leyela ever sent you a text or an email
33:25
Speaker 2: like that.
33:25
Speaker 9: Never? Never, So that's why we were very discerned and
33:30
Speaker 9: worried that somebody might.
33:31
Speaker 2: Actually threatened to chop her up.
33:34
Speaker 4: Yes, correct, Yes, you know.
33:35
Speaker 2: It's just actually making my stomach hurt. After all you
33:39
Speaker 2: had been through, and someone is threatening to chop her
33:43
Speaker 2: up unless they get money. Look, we're showing you the
33:48
Speaker 2: sick ransom text. I mean, Brittany, what went through your
33:52
Speaker 2: mind when you get this?
33:54
Speaker 4: I was in utter shock, and of course I reached
33:57
Speaker 4: out to Jennifer. I reached out To's boyfriend Michael, and
34:02
Speaker 4: while I am on the phone with Michael, I'm like,
34:06
Speaker 4: are you getting any cash up requests? Because I'm getting
34:10
Speaker 4: some right now, saying for abbreviations, and I gave him,
34:15
Speaker 4: you know, TWMLG and he goes, oh, well, my brother says,
34:20
Speaker 4: they won't let me go or they will let me go.
34:22
Speaker 4: And I'm not processing everything that's going on at that moment.
34:26
Speaker 4: I'm just thinking, oh my god, how do we do this?
34:29
Speaker 4: I want to hear her voice. I want to know
34:31
Speaker 4: that she is in fact, okay, do they really have her?
34:34
Speaker 4: So there were so many things just running through my
34:37
Speaker 4: mind as well as George's, and we were just dumbfounded, like,
34:41
Speaker 4: oh my, what do we do? Do we send all
34:43
Speaker 4: this money? Do we I dragged it out as much
34:46
Speaker 4: as I possibly could to be able to get as
34:49
Speaker 4: much information as I possibly can, and Jennifer and I
34:52
Speaker 4: were asking questions like, you know, what's your youngest brother's name,
34:56
Speaker 4: what's your pop secret pass code? Only things that Layla
35:00
Speaker 4: can answer, and they were left and answered.
35:02
Speaker 2: So how did he the boyfriend know what t w
35:06
Speaker 2: l MG means. It's not like he's I DK. I
35:09
Speaker 2: don't know. I had to figure out what does t
35:12
Speaker 2: w l MG mean? And he knew it off the
35:14
Speaker 2: tip of.
35:15
Speaker 4: His tongue, That's what I was saying, And like I,
35:17
Speaker 4: of course wasn't processing it at that exact moment. But
35:21
Speaker 4: once I had a moment to process everything on what
35:23
Speaker 4: was going on and rereading all of the messages and
35:27
Speaker 4: everything that I had sending it to the investigators, I
35:30
Speaker 4: was just like, wow, Like, I know, I got a
35:34
Speaker 4: lot going on, but how do you know exactly what
35:38
Speaker 4: that meant? In an instance? I was just I was roud.
35:42
Speaker 2: I was roud. This is what Leila's mother has to
35:46
Speaker 2: say about that ransom text.
35:48
Speaker 16: It's one thing for a stranger to try and capitalize
35:53
Speaker 16: on something like that the way that they that he did.
35:57
Speaker 16: It's a whole other thing when it's someone.
35:59
Speaker 2: That you care about. From our friends at News five
36:01
Speaker 2: wcy B to Rebecca McNary joining US reporter Kingsport Time News,
36:09
Speaker 2: who is he who sent the ransom text threatening to
36:13
Speaker 2: talk Lala into bits?
36:15
Speaker 15: Yeah, so police later found out during their investigation of
36:18
Speaker 15: that was her boyfriend at the time, Michael Thompson, who
36:22
Speaker 15: was sending those pretty alarming messages to Leyla's family about
36:25
Speaker 15: two weeks after she was reported missing. He was later
36:30
Speaker 15: indicted by a grand jury here in Sulliwyn County on
36:33
Speaker 15: financial exploitation, credit card fraud, and identity theft.
36:38
Speaker 13: Thompson otherwise cooperates with the investigation, and neither family nor
36:42
Speaker 13: cops believe Thompson had anything to do with Layla's disappearance,
36:46
Speaker 13: but obviously tried to take advantage of this situation. Jennifer
36:49
Speaker 13: Santanello claims Thompson has taken a polygraph test, but the
36:53
Speaker 13: results were inconclusive because he was not sober for the
36:56
Speaker 13: five hour exam.
36:57
Speaker 2: George, jam And, I want to confirm with you. Our
37:00
Speaker 2: sources have told us that you do not believe Thompson
37:04
Speaker 2: had anything to do with Layla's disappearance.
37:07
Speaker 7: No, I don't believe. Well, they cleared them first. First
37:11
Speaker 7: they cleared them.
37:12
Speaker 4: How do you feel.
37:15
Speaker 9: I feel he might know something or know some people
37:18
Speaker 9: that could be involved are whereabouts.
37:21
Speaker 7: That is possible, but he's not saying nothing for nobody.
37:26
Speaker 2: So guys, what about the search now.
37:29
Speaker 3: In addition to grid searches near the America Court Hotel,
37:32
Speaker 3: Kingsport PD have searched the home Layla shared with Michael
37:35
Speaker 3: Thompson and served at least thirty more search warrants. Officers
37:38
Speaker 3: have also issued at least twenty five subpoenas. Officers remain
37:42
Speaker 3: tight lipped about their most current leads to protect the investigation,
37:45
Speaker 3: but have searched several other locations in addition to the field,
37:48
Speaker 3: totaling six ground searches.
37:50
Speaker 2: To Rebecca McNary joining us from Kingsport, Time News tell
37:55
Speaker 2: me about the search as it stands right now and
37:58
Speaker 2: the reward.
37:59
Speaker 15: I know that the search the ground searches were subsided
38:04
Speaker 15: a little bit during the colder winter months, but that
38:06
Speaker 15: those are expected to pick up again here in the
38:10
Speaker 15: near future. As far as any kind of reward money,
38:15
Speaker 15: I'm not sure. I believe the last number that I
38:18
Speaker 15: heard was around seven grand that her family was offering
38:21
Speaker 15: do whoever had information about her whereabouts and disappearance.
38:25
Speaker 2: To George and Brittany. This case has taken so many
38:29
Speaker 2: twists and turns, false reports of false siding that seems
38:34
Speaker 2: so credible. The ransom text just cold blooded ransom text
38:41
Speaker 2: money grab. So where are we left? In my mind,
38:45
Speaker 2: we're left with the warehouse workers that didn't have a
38:49
Speaker 2: cigarette seeing her walk off into a field. That's where
38:54
Speaker 2: we are.
38:55
Speaker 9: What about it, George, That's where we are as of
38:59
Speaker 9: right now. That's the last known place that she was
39:04
Speaker 9: actually seen.
39:05
Speaker 4: So that's all we know is.
39:07
Speaker 3: Of right now.
39:08
Speaker 2: What about it, Brittany.
39:09
Speaker 4: Well, so even though that's all that we have at
39:12
Speaker 4: this time, we're going to continue to work as hard
39:16
Speaker 4: as we can to.
39:17
Speaker 2: Figure out what direction she went.
39:20
Speaker 4: And I call it the direction of the unknown. Since
39:24
Speaker 4: it's been two years almost now, and I know, any
39:28
Speaker 4: type of surveillance footage that we have tried to grab
39:32
Speaker 4: off of weather cameras or any type of surveillance that
39:37
Speaker 4: our investigator had tried to pull, I know at this
39:42
Speaker 4: time it's definitely going to be extremely difficult to be
39:46
Speaker 4: able to pull. So we're got to just keep on
39:51
Speaker 4: search in and put ground searches in place to be
39:55
Speaker 4: able to gather as much resources that we possibly can
39:58
Speaker 4: from nonprofit organizations that offer out of our dogs, drones, extensive, yes, extensive,
40:07
Speaker 4: wide varieties of you know, needs for Layela to be
40:10
Speaker 4: able to be found, since we feel like we're working
40:13
Speaker 4: next little of nothing at this time.
40:16
Speaker 2: If you know or think you know anything about the
40:19
Speaker 2: disappearance of Layelah Santanello, please dial four two three three
40:25
Speaker 2: four three nine seven eight zero or toll free eight
40:30
Speaker 2: hundred TB I find eight hundred eight two four three
40:35
Speaker 2: four sixty three. There is a seven thousand dollars reward
40:40
Speaker 2: for information in the disappearance of Leyela, and that reward
40:45
Speaker 2: is growing. We now remember an American hero, Senior Deputy
40:51
Speaker 2: Christopher Corzilias, Travis County Sheriff, Texas, passed away in the
40:57
Speaker 2: line of duty, survived by a grieving partner Bethany, mother, Nancy, father, Paul,
41:04
Speaker 2: stepmom Patty. American hero Senior Deputy Christopher Crasilius, Goodbye friend,