Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Houston mom disappears after dropping toddler at babysitter - Help us find Maria

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Houston mom disappears after dropping toddler at babysitter - Help us find Maria · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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Speaker 1: XM Triumph Channel one thirty two. Twenty nine year old
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Speaker 1: Maria Jamenez Rodriguez was last seen on tex Arcana Street
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Speaker 1: in Northeast Houston Thursday morning, and today Cruiz from Texas
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Speaker 1: Equisearch started their efforts to find her until she dropped
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Speaker 1: her three year old off of the babysitter's house across
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Speaker 1: the street and then disappeared. Her family says that's out
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Speaker 1: of character, the same with her not showing up for
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Speaker 1: work on Thursday. Only clue so far is Maria's vehicle
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Speaker 1: that was found early Friday morning. Texas Equistarch volunteers began
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Speaker 1: their frantic search on flips and on wheels We've gathered
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Speaker 1: here to search for my sister, wishing. I'm hoping that
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Speaker 1: she is found alive and will and just to come home.
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Speaker 1: A beautiful young twenty nine year old mom seemingly drops
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Speaker 1: off the face of the earth. Where is Maria? I mean,
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Speaker 1: see Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being
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Speaker 1: with us. The search is going on right now for
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Speaker 1: the twenty nine year old mom, and he's joining me
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Speaker 1: her sister, Gloria leading the search. A man who has
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Speaker 1: dedicated his life to finding the missing. Tim Miller with
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Speaker 1: equa sarch forensics expert Karen Smith, forensics psychiatrist Dr Daniel Bober,
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Speaker 1: renowned criminal defense attorney in multiple jurisdictions, Jason Oceans and
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Speaker 1: Crime Online dot Com reporter Lee Egan as always with me,
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Speaker 1: Alan Duke and Jackie Howard here in the studio. A
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Speaker 1: search has launched, including in the last hours, over seventy
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Speaker 1: Equisearch all volunteers scouring northeast Houston, where Maria's truck was
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Speaker 1: found in the early morning hours, but no trace of Maria.
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Speaker 1: Straight out, First to Tim Miller, the leader of Equasearch, Tim,
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Speaker 1: how did you get called in on the case of
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Speaker 1: missing Maria Imenez? Well, actually, Houston Police Department called me
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Speaker 1: early Saturday morning and Simpliciel has always done a case
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Speaker 1: shore that would like you to kind of take a
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Speaker 1: look at When I went up and I actually called Gloria,
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Speaker 1: went up and met where they're got all the details
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Speaker 1: of the of the disappearance r sister's disappearance, and it
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Speaker 1: was pretty obvious early on that something has happened. Hold on,
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Speaker 1: I want to follow on that with you, Tim Miller,
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Speaker 1: Tim Miller, leader of Equassearch, saying it was very obvious
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Speaker 1: something was wrong, and I agree. Maria last seen early
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Speaker 1: in the morning at eight a m. When, like so
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Speaker 1: many of us, she leaves home for the law firm
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Speaker 1: where she works as a pair illegal. On her way
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Speaker 1: to the law form law from she drops off for
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Speaker 1: a three year old little girl at the next door
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Speaker 1: neighbor's house, then came home to get her gem bag
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Speaker 1: and a purse. You know, she sounds very orderly and
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Speaker 1: methodical to me. Joining me also in addition to Equaseurch
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Speaker 1: leader Tim Miller, is Maria's sister, Gloria. Gloria, thank you
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Speaker 1: for being with us. It's my understanding your sister has
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Speaker 1: never disappeared before. She has never disappeared before. Where this
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Speaker 1: is the first time this has happened. You know, I'm
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Speaker 1: thinking through Gloria. I'm thinking through her being such an
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Speaker 1: organized person when you're juggling a demanding job like working
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Speaker 1: at a law firm, and you're taking care of your
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Speaker 1: three year old little girl at the same time, dropping
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Speaker 1: her off on time, circling back to the house to
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Speaker 1: get a gem bag and all of her things to
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Speaker 1: take to work. Let me ask you this, Gloria, do
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Speaker 1: we know that she ever made it out of the house. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: she did. Why do you know that? Because the vehicle
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Speaker 1: was not here. She left, She got on her vehicle,
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Speaker 1: she closed her gates from her house, and she left.
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Speaker 1: How do you know it was her riding the car,
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Speaker 1: driving the vehicle. I am not a hundred percent sure
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Speaker 1: that that was her. But is there anybody in the
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Speaker 1: home Gloria saw her leave that morning with her gem
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Speaker 1: bag and okay, great, who saw her? My brother? Okay,
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Speaker 1: your brother is there? Okay, I understand. So Maria definitely
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Speaker 1: was spotted. I mean, I'm just trying to create a timeline,
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Speaker 1: is where I'm going with this with me Maria's sister,
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Speaker 1: Gloria tim Miller, Karen Smith, Daniel Boberg, Jason Oceans, and
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Speaker 1: Lee Egan Gloria back to you again. I'm trying to
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Speaker 1: just establish that timeline so we know their eyes on
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Speaker 1: Maria when she comes back to the home to get
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Speaker 1: her gem bag and her pocketbook, she leaves for work.
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Speaker 1: That's around eight a m. Is that correct? That is correct?
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Speaker 1: Did she speak to anybody from the car en route
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Speaker 1: to work? I don't know the only thing I do
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Speaker 1: know is at eight thirty is my brother text her
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Speaker 1: to tell her regarding a pack of um there were
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Speaker 1: It's just a random of text that they would speak
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Speaker 1: to each other. I think he needed to pick up
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Speaker 1: a package from the postal or he needed to drop
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Speaker 1: off I'm not sure which one, but um he did
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Speaker 1: text her, and um she texts back seeing I think
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Speaker 1: the postal off was wasn't open at that time yet. Okay,
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Speaker 1: so that I don't I'm not concerned right now about
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Speaker 1: the intricacies of that text. And I'll tell you why.
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Speaker 1: The reason I'm not concerned about it. To Jason Ocean's
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Speaker 1: criminal defense attorney, you know the deal. I know who's
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Speaker 1: texting back and forth. I know she's getting a text
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Speaker 1: from her brother, and she's riding back because she understands
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Speaker 1: Jason Ocean the context of what he's saying. If somebody
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Speaker 1: had her phone Jason at that time, but they wouldn't
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Speaker 1: be able to respond coherently, they would either not respond
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Speaker 1: or just put okay or something like that. So I
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Speaker 1: know she's alive at that time, right, because she's texting
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Speaker 1: coherently in the conversation back to them coherently, and she's saying,
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Speaker 1: ups isn't open yet? Alright, fine? So I also believe
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Speaker 1: she gets to work Gloria with me, Maria's sister Gloria.
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Speaker 1: Are their eyes on her at work? Is she's seen
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Speaker 1: at work that day? Oh? There you go, because listen
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Speaker 1: to this, listen to this. I know this. I know.
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Speaker 1: She leaves the house to drive to the office. Then
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Speaker 1: she texts a coworker saying she would be late. That
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Speaker 1: didn't raise any flags at first, okay. Then later the
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Speaker 1: same coworker receives a text saying that Maria was headed
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Speaker 1: back to the neighbor to pick up her daughter because
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Speaker 1: the daughter wasn't feeling well. Did that really come from Maria? Gloria?
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Speaker 1: Is the three was the three year old girl really sick. No,
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Speaker 1: not that day. There there it is right there to
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Speaker 1: Karen Smith, forensics expert. Karen, right there, that is the
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Speaker 1: beginning of timeline in my mind. And it also tells me,
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Speaker 1: Karen Smith, whoever did this may very well know her
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Speaker 1: because they knew a coworker to contact to say I'm
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Speaker 1: gonna be late, and then a co worker to contact
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Speaker 1: to say I gotta go pick up my daughter. Somebody
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Speaker 1: that knows she has a daughter, or body just looking
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Speaker 1: at her cell phone, Karen Smith, like my screen servers,
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Speaker 1: the twins, my my two ten year old twins, somebody
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Speaker 1: would probably know those are my children if they looked
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Speaker 1: at the pictures that say, all the pictures that I take,
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Speaker 1: all the time of us together. So what can you
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Speaker 1: tell me? You're the forensics expert about what we know
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Speaker 1: so far? For those of you just joined us, a
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Speaker 1: twenty nine year old woman is missing now with me,
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Speaker 1: her sister Gloria and the leader of the search, Tim
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Speaker 1: Miller with Equasearch. Karen Smith, forensics expert, way in, Well,
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Speaker 1: as you know, we are well beyond the critical forty
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Speaker 1: eight hour window. Um, this is going to be dependent
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Speaker 1: on some victimology that the police are going to have
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Speaker 1: to do. And that cell phone is it's such a
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Speaker 1: critical piece of evidence. And you're right, Uh, if if
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Speaker 1: this does turn out to be some type of foul play,
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Speaker 1: it's going to be someone she knows and knows her well,
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Speaker 1: knows her habits. This does not feel like a crime
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Speaker 1: of opportunity. This this reads like a planned thing. And
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Speaker 1: you know, maybe she was possibly followed her stalks. Police
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Speaker 1: are going to have to dig into her personal history
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Speaker 1: to find out, Um, who Maria was associating with our
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Speaker 1: possibly dating or meeting her co workers, her acquaintances. Um,
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Speaker 1: was she using a dating site? UM? Had she revealed
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Speaker 1: details about herself online? Possibly? Um? These are things that
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Speaker 1: are going to be critical. And on the thing about
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Speaker 1: the cell phone, I want to talk about these mobile
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Speaker 1: positioning systems, triangulation and other ways they can find out
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Speaker 1: where that cell phone was at a point in time,
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Speaker 1: at least down to a small area. And that is
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Speaker 1: going to be critical in this case. And does it
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Speaker 1: follow her pattern to work. We're creatures of habit. We
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Speaker 1: we follow pathways and stop at the same place as
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Speaker 1: all the time. Was the location of where her truck
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Speaker 1: was found on her routine path to work. Um, if
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Speaker 1: it wasn't, now there may maybe Okay, so there may
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Speaker 1: be some forensic importance to that truck, maybe some fingerprints
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Speaker 1: or for in DNA, some trace evidence such as hairs
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Speaker 1: or fibers. If a person got in it um or
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Speaker 1: touched the doors, or touched any of the components inside,
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Speaker 1: those are going to be critical forensic pieces of evidence.
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Speaker 1: I got a couple of questions following up on Kieren Smith,
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Speaker 1: forensics expert joining me. Let's go to Maria's sister, Gloria.
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Speaker 1: Gloria again, thank you for being with us, guys, those
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Speaker 1: of you listening. The time is now to help find
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Speaker 1: this missing mom just twenty nine years old. Gloria, I
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Speaker 1: want to circle back to your brother. Did anyone beside
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Speaker 1: your brother see her or talk to her after she
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Speaker 1: left the house? No? And the text to him regarding
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Speaker 1: the package. What was her text back to him when
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Speaker 1: he asked about her picking up the package? It was
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Speaker 1: just saying that, um, they didn't open early. Well is
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Speaker 1: that true? Is the you because they're open at eight am? Yes,
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Speaker 1: but not that early. M I think that would be
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Speaker 1: a response of her. Okay, but you've confirmed the ups
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Speaker 1: was not open at that time, that is correct. Has
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Speaker 1: the home been searched Gloria for any foul play within
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Speaker 1: the home? Yeah? Okay? Was anything else found in her rock?
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Speaker 1: Anything like her pocketbook, her cell phone, her jim bag,
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Speaker 1: anything like that jim bag is in the truck. The
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Speaker 1: things that are missing are her purse, her cell phone,
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Speaker 1: and the actual key to tell Miller, the founder of Equasarch,
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Speaker 1: who has managed to get nearly a hundred people they're
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Speaker 1: volunteers looking for Maria tim Do you know whether or
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Speaker 1: not the police have tried to paying the phone to
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Speaker 1: find out it's whereabouts? Well, I was actually with detectives
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Speaker 1: yesterday and unfortunately, just a few days ago of cream
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Speaker 1: courts have stated even far more difficult to go ahead
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Speaker 1: and thing the phones that are these privacy law is
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Speaker 1: now what they have done. As I was on the
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Speaker 1: phone the investigators of ten o'clock last night, they did
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Speaker 1: get the paperwork in and I feel very optimistic that
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Speaker 1: this morning we are want to have the reports from
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Speaker 1: her Honest Star and uh and now we actually have
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Speaker 1: to get an actual warrant to to get phone records.
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Speaker 1: But we think the Honest Star is going to be
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Speaker 1: a good starting point and think you know it's going
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Speaker 1: to be uh pretty valuable. The honest star that was
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Speaker 1: on her vehicle, with her vehicle was only found, um
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Speaker 1: I think six blocks from her her house. And we
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Speaker 1: have been many people who was actually out there yesterday,
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Speaker 1: uh in case some place partment. Now it's put eight
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Speaker 1: investigators on this case. So that's how serious they think
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Speaker 1: it is. You know, I want to follow what you're
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Speaker 1: saying regarding the cell phone. Guys with me is Maria's sister.
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Speaker 1: Twenty nine year old young mom, gorgeous, brilliant, working as
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Speaker 1: a paralegal at a law firm, headed out to work
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Speaker 1: early in the morning. Round eight a m has never
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Speaker 1: been seen again. Her truck has been found, abandoned, cell phone,
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Speaker 1: pocketbook gone. All that's in there is her gym bag.
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Speaker 1: Let me give you the tip line now seven one
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Speaker 1: three eight eight four three one three one seven one
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Speaker 1: three eight eight four three one three one help us
14:14
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Speaker 1: are live in Texas looking for a beautiful young mom,
15:52
Speaker 1: the mother of a three year old little girl, who
15:55
Speaker 1: heads out to work and the gym early in the
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Speaker 1: morning to her job at a law firm, end goes missing.
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Speaker 1: All that's been found so far is her truck and
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Speaker 1: her gem bag. Due to a recent Supreme Court ruling
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Speaker 1: that just came down in the last forty eight hours.
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Speaker 1: It makes it extremely difficult for police to paying a
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Speaker 1: phone of a missing person right now. However, according to
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Speaker 1: Tim Miller, who leads EQUI Search, we may get a
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Speaker 1: little knowledge out of the on Star. To Jason Ocean's
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Speaker 1: veteran criminal defense attorney, Jason, this is a big deal
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Speaker 1: because a lot of people don't know that you can
16:36
Speaker 1: get your track or information by subpoena. And you know,
16:41
Speaker 1: subpoena sounds so difficult and legally sophisticated. It's not. I
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Speaker 1: had carried with me in my car a stack of
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Speaker 1: fifty subpoenas at all times, and I would I would
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Speaker 1: put right in the name, I would write in the
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Speaker 1: date and the time that I needed them in court,
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Speaker 1: and I would sign it and right the short location
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Speaker 1: and that's what you filled in. So it's not that hard.
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Speaker 1: This would require subpoena ducas. Take um I a a
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Speaker 1: subpoena four documents for your on Star. Um you're any
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Speaker 1: tracking devise cell phone. But if you can't get the
17:20
Speaker 1: cell phone, you can your car is full of tracking devices.
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Speaker 1: So another thing is there's nobody to argue it like that.
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Speaker 1: We we don't know who has taken her, so nobody
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Speaker 1: is fighting this. But still the cell phone company and
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Speaker 1: the for instance on Star, they've got to go through
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Speaker 1: channels and that takes time. Jason oceans it too, and
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Speaker 1: at an extra layer of request, right, an extra layer
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Speaker 1: that that that in this case, clearly there's nothing adverse
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Speaker 1: about getting it. We all want to get it, but
17:50
Speaker 1: now they're for our protections based on a five four
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Speaker 1: Supreme Court decision. I'm with you, Nancy. I want to
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Speaker 1: go to Dr Daniel Bober joining me well known forensics
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Speaker 1: psychiatrist Dr Daniel Bober not only a mental medical degree,
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Speaker 1: but a psychiatric specialty and now a subspecialty of forensic psychiatry.
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Speaker 1: Dr Bober. Right now, all we have is her truck,
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Speaker 1: her gem bag in there. We're waiting to see if
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Speaker 1: fingerprints can be lifted. What can you tell us, Please
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Speaker 1: go into the mental and emotional aspect of this. What
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Speaker 1: evidence can we going to try to find Maria? This
18:31
Speaker 1: is really the pain that keeps giving, the pain of
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Speaker 1: the unknown. It's excruciating for the family. But in terms
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Speaker 1: of the victim, as you said before, I think any
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Speaker 1: departure from the normal routine is a red flag, and
18:45
Speaker 1: all we can do is hope and pray that she's
18:47
Speaker 1: still alive and that maybe she can get a message
18:49
Speaker 1: out to get some assistance. What can we learn from
18:53
Speaker 1: the text? Can we divulge any can we discern anything
18:57
Speaker 1: from the texts not? At this point doesn't really seem
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Speaker 1: like we have enough information. Uh that I was interested
19:03
Speaker 1: in that text about the ups store. Um, to me,
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Speaker 1: that's also a red flag. But at this point it
19:09
Speaker 1: seems like we need more information. Well, to me, you
19:12
Speaker 1: can tell by a text, of course, I'm just the
19:15
Speaker 1: j D, you're the m D. But to Maria's sister Gloria,
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Speaker 1: by reading the text responses, did it sound like her talking?
19:23
Speaker 1: I mean? Was it full of misspellings she wouldn't normally do?
19:26
Speaker 1: Was there slang in the text she would normally use?
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Speaker 1: Has she ever on left work and just texted somebody
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Speaker 1: or text? And when she was late? Is this the
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Speaker 1: coworker she would normally have picked out to write and say, Hey,
19:42
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be late. Is there anything unusual you can
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Speaker 1: identify in the text as not having been from her?
19:50
Speaker 1: I can um the text to my brother gives that
19:54
Speaker 1: is her, but the rest of the texts are not
19:58
Speaker 1: heard to do that. The fact that she does not
20:01
Speaker 1: say death, she doesn't say what. She doesn't say death
20:07
Speaker 1: as the baby's name. The baby's name is Destiny. Her
20:10
Speaker 1: name is not deaf, and that those texts are saying
20:15
Speaker 1: des d e s. That's not the way she and
20:19
Speaker 1: she related to the baby. She always I've already looked
20:24
Speaker 1: all over my Texas and they're always saying Destiny. And
20:31
Speaker 1: that is significant. That's very significant. I know it's small,
20:36
Speaker 1: it's like it sounds like a small thing. To Karen Smith,
20:40
Speaker 1: forensics expert, that is a big thing. Everybody knows. I
20:44
Speaker 1: do not call John David j D. So if I
20:49
Speaker 1: wrote somebody and referred to j D, that would be
20:54
Speaker 1: I've never done that. He's ten years old. In ten years.
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Speaker 1: If I'm abbreviating, I might text j David just to
21:01
Speaker 1: make it shorter. So Karen Smith, that would be like
21:04
Speaker 1: me suddenly calling you k S. I've never done that
21:07
Speaker 1: my life. You would know it, right. That's not Nancy
21:11
Speaker 1: or somebody, which I don't like that either. Jumping thing
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Speaker 1: is that go ahead, Gloria. And another thing is that
21:22
Speaker 1: she does not write slaying words. She does not she's
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Speaker 1: even though it's let's say, well she's speaking to her
21:31
Speaker 1: co worker, her supervisor, so she would not um right,
21:35
Speaker 1: slak words and they're they're different words there. I cannot
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Speaker 1: remember right now, But on the text there's words that
21:45
Speaker 1: she wouldn't write. Who does call the baby dies? Who
21:50
Speaker 1: would know her that calls the baby does? We don't
21:54
Speaker 1: call her death, We call her destiny. I have my
21:58
Speaker 1: personal word for her, um, but it's usually destiny destiny.
22:05
Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting that you said you have your
22:07
Speaker 1: personal words for her. UM. That's really striking me. You know,
22:13
Speaker 1: Tim Miller joining me the leader of the equisearch army
22:18
Speaker 1: that he has somehow created to find this missing mom.
22:24
Speaker 1: You know, tim Um. For instance, if I refer to
22:28
Speaker 1: John David, I might call him big Boy. That's his
22:31
Speaker 1: nickname ever since he was born, or a name my
22:35
Speaker 1: dad gave him. Nobody else would know it, but somebody
22:37
Speaker 1: in our immediate family took t I c. That's a
22:41
Speaker 1: nickname for John David. For Lucy, nickname little girl. And
22:47
Speaker 1: I mean there's several nicknames that only somebody within our
22:50
Speaker 1: family would know. Tim Miller, tell me how this is striking.
22:57
Speaker 1: You did Maria have, for instance, an angry boyfriend or
23:02
Speaker 1: an X or what do we know? Tim? How are
23:06
Speaker 1: you directing the search? Well, we got our suspicions on
23:10
Speaker 1: somebody's law enforcement does too that There was another extremely
23:15
Speaker 1: disturbing text that came in at six seventeen that afternoon.
23:21
Speaker 1: Or she texted a co worker and actually said I
23:25
Speaker 1: am followed by a vehicle with two Hispanics and when
23:30
Speaker 1: I find a safe place, I will call you. We
23:34
Speaker 1: know that text did not come from her. We feel
23:38
Speaker 1: as though the person that they possibly did something to
23:43
Speaker 1: Maria was texting as though she was still okay out there,
23:49
Speaker 1: Tim Miller, I was writing so fast to get every
23:53
Speaker 1: word you said. Could you mind telling me that again?
23:56
Speaker 1: Six sevent pm mystery text texts as I got mystery
24:01
Speaker 1: checks and stated that I am being followed by a
24:06
Speaker 1: red pickup truck with two Hispanics in it. I will
24:10
Speaker 1: contact you when I find a safe place. So use
24:16
Speaker 1: the word to hispanics. Yes, no, she she used first
24:23
Speaker 1: to white white or yeah white art Hispanic? Would she
24:29
Speaker 1: ever say the word no too? I mean she is Hispanic?
24:35
Speaker 1: So why was she that okay right there? That tells
24:41
Speaker 1: me that he took her. I mean, wow, My problem is,
24:50
Speaker 1: if you're being followed by someone and you're trying to
24:54
Speaker 1: drive away, why are you going to write a big
24:57
Speaker 1: old paragraph and explain his ban nick Latino white, black yellow.
25:03
Speaker 1: If you're being followed, you don't have time to write
25:05
Speaker 1: all that unless you're using um, your Siri where you
25:11
Speaker 1: just dictate into the phone. But even then, but why,
25:16
Speaker 1: that's what I'm wanted about to say to him exactly,
25:21
Speaker 1: That's what I was just about dictating into Sirie. You
25:25
Speaker 1: should be calling nine one one, go ahead, Gloria. Another
25:29
Speaker 1: thing is another thing? Is it's nine? I'm sorry it's six?
25:33
Speaker 1: Um um? Why is she not calling a family member?
25:40
Speaker 1: She is calling she is texting the co worker at
25:44
Speaker 1: this time. She is not in business hours, she is
25:49
Speaker 1: out of work. That says to me, maybe they didn't
25:53
Speaker 1: know who. They didn't know the family. Okay, that is
25:59
Speaker 1: telling me that they can look at her phone, but
26:03
Speaker 1: they don't know who. I wonder how she had you
26:06
Speaker 1: guys listed in the phone. Let me ask you this.
26:09
Speaker 1: Did she have a lock on her phone? Like I mean,
26:12
Speaker 1: because yes, was it easy to figure out like one
26:17
Speaker 1: one one one or something like that. Yes, because the
26:20
Speaker 1: baby knew it, So could somebody figure it out? Or
26:24
Speaker 1: did they make her give them the lot number? The
26:29
Speaker 1: baby would know how to get in the phone. But
26:32
Speaker 1: I'm thinking that it's not easy for someone that doesn't
26:36
Speaker 1: know the pattern. So how would I'm trying to figure
26:41
Speaker 1: out how would they have gotten into her phone? To
26:45
Speaker 1: have to be somebody that's that's familiar with her and
26:51
Speaker 1: she is a she's a person that's not trustful, not
26:55
Speaker 1: she doesn't trust anybody. She is me. Theyby where is
27:01
Speaker 1: the baby girl's dad in this scenario? He well, he's
27:07
Speaker 1: not with her, but he's always calling and he's always
27:12
Speaker 1: coming to the home to see the baby. Um, they
27:16
Speaker 1: had a communication for the baby. Um, not a relationship,
27:21
Speaker 1: but it was all for the baby. After anger or acrimony,
27:28
Speaker 1: any problems with the X. No, does he have an alibi?
27:34
Speaker 1: He's he was at work. That's what he says. I
27:42
Speaker 1: would for him if he bit me on the next
27:44
Speaker 1: But that's the first place you look, because that is
27:47
Speaker 1: some one that would know might know her code, might
27:50
Speaker 1: know her her travel routine. UM, let me ask you this,
27:54
Speaker 1: Tim Miller et Research leader, where in relation to the
27:58
Speaker 1: home in the office while her truck found was it
28:02
Speaker 1: on the way or was it out somewhere, for she
28:04
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been well, it was in a direction that
28:07
Speaker 1: she wouldn't have been in. Again, it was only a
28:10
Speaker 1: few blocks from her house. And we actually talked to
28:18
Speaker 1: people there at the house. And I talked to a
28:22
Speaker 1: guy there Sunday morning and he said the first time
28:25
Speaker 1: he seen the truck there was about seven o'clock in
28:29
Speaker 1: the evening and he didn't see anybody around the truck.
28:34
Speaker 1: And then he went back out there about to see
28:36
Speaker 1: if the truck was still there. We was gonna take
28:39
Speaker 1: a picture of the truck, but it was too dark.
28:42
Speaker 1: And then from what I understand, all Star actually located
28:45
Speaker 1: that vesic for at three o'clock in the morning. Okay,
28:49
Speaker 1: let me understand that it was only maybe six six
28:52
Speaker 1: eight blocks away from the house, so it was it
28:56
Speaker 1: was definitely somebody that new Maria, And Maria will let
29:01
Speaker 1: me ask you this, tim are you telling me her
29:04
Speaker 1: truck didn't appear the six or eight blocks in the
29:07
Speaker 1: home until later in the evening about eleven o'clock. And
29:14
Speaker 1: so what is strange about that, Nancy, is when the
29:17
Speaker 1: text came in at six seventeen six. Then it's like
29:26
Speaker 1: that was kind of a setup that Hey, I'm being
29:29
Speaker 1: followed by somebody, and now a truck is scene around
29:32
Speaker 1: seven o'clock, so you know somebody was her phone to
29:36
Speaker 1: kind of Okay, this is significant. This is very significant
29:41
Speaker 1: to Miller because this says it's not random like a
29:45
Speaker 1: man and trust me, this is a man that did this. Okay,
29:48
Speaker 1: So a man sees her, he attacks or robs her,
29:52
Speaker 1: maybe molester or kills her bam and leaves her. No,
29:56
Speaker 1: this is someone that staged it. If I'm correct that
30:02
Speaker 1: the vehicle was not there before say, six pm. Are
30:07
Speaker 1: we sure that it wasn't there or that nobody noticed it?
30:12
Speaker 1: Nobody noticed So you're saying it could have been there.
30:18
Speaker 1: It could have been there, but now away yesterday and
30:21
Speaker 1: we thought there were the detectives of mail man was
30:24
Speaker 1: actually going around. Uh, he did not see the vehicle there.
30:28
Speaker 1: We talked to several of the neighbors. They had a vehicle. Uh,
30:33
Speaker 1: they not seen the vehicle there. We actually looked at
30:36
Speaker 1: surveillance cameras for hours the day before yesterday. I see
30:40
Speaker 1: if we could see a vehicle coming that vehicle coming
30:43
Speaker 1: by their uh, and we didn't see it, like of
30:48
Speaker 1: course it could have came from the other directions. So okay,
30:51
Speaker 1: let me think, yeah, happened to her before that text
30:58
Speaker 1: came in at my thirty and on the state she
31:00
Speaker 1: was to be late and certain she texted in she
31:06
Speaker 1: had to go back home because the baby was sick.
31:09
Speaker 1: To Karen Smith, forensics expert, this is a big, big
31:15
Speaker 1: evidentiary clue. If this were random, her body would have
31:19
Speaker 1: been left where she was killed or abducted. That that's
31:24
Speaker 1: where the car would be. Okay, this is not where
31:27
Speaker 1: she was abducted because this is not her usual route
31:30
Speaker 1: to work. It's sent. If the car was not there
31:34
Speaker 1: before six pm, that means someone made off with her
31:38
Speaker 1: and took the trouble to come back, leave the vehicle,
31:42
Speaker 1: stage the scene and send fake text. Karen Smith, that's
31:46
Speaker 1: a lot different from a random assailant. Care and explain absolutely.
31:52
Speaker 1: That was my first question. Was the truck found on
31:54
Speaker 1: her normal route to work. If it was not, that
31:57
Speaker 1: means that either she was forced to drive it or
32:00
Speaker 1: somebody else drove it and placed it there on purpose.
32:03
Speaker 1: And I've seen this before. That truck is a forensic
32:08
Speaker 1: gold mine, and I really, really hope that police are
32:11
Speaker 1: going through it with a fine tooth comb. You know,
32:14
Speaker 1: you need one fingerprint, one sample of DNA, one hair.
32:19
Speaker 1: One of these pieces of evidence can link to whoever
32:23
Speaker 1: was driving that car, and then we can find out
32:26
Speaker 1: possibly what happened to Mariajimenez Rodriguez at this point, where
32:32
Speaker 1: the truck was parked, the direction it was spacing, any
32:35
Speaker 1: cell phone data that that they'll be able to glean
32:38
Speaker 1: once they get the subpoena pushed through UM. And actually
32:41
Speaker 1: her purse is also gonna be key, because you know
32:44
Speaker 1: as well as I do, that person didn't keep the purse.
32:46
Speaker 1: They tossed it. They tossed it, they tossed the keys.
32:49
Speaker 1: So if they can triangulate or get the mobile positioning
32:52
Speaker 1: of that cell phone, they're gonna have to go dumpster diving.
32:55
Speaker 1: They're gonna have to go trash driving to see if
32:57
Speaker 1: they can find the person any of those areas as well.
33:00
Speaker 1: Right now, the search is on for a beautiful twenty
33:03
Speaker 1: nine year old young mom of a three year old
33:06
Speaker 1: little girl named Destiny. Where is Maria joining me right now?
33:12
Speaker 1: Her sister, Gloria tim Miller, the leader of Equasearch, who
33:17
Speaker 1: managed to put out a call for help and brings
33:20
Speaker 1: in nearly one hundred searchers by foot a TV coordinating
33:24
Speaker 1: efforts from a command center set up at a truck
33:28
Speaker 1: part entire area Right now, no sign of the missing mom,
33:32
Speaker 1: but we know foul play is involved. Joining me, Tim Miller,
33:38
Speaker 1: equa search. Tim. I want to go back to what
33:41
Speaker 1: we've learned so far. We know that the last real
33:44
Speaker 1: text from Maria was around eight a m. Eight ish
33:49
Speaker 1: a m Her car was either left six to eight
33:54
Speaker 1: blocks off her normal route to work right then, or
34:00
Speaker 1: and this seems more likely, the car was to the
34:03
Speaker 1: truck was taken and then returned to the area around
34:07
Speaker 1: six pm that evening, followed by more fake text. Tim.
34:13
Speaker 1: Where and how are you searching for Maria? Well, we searched,
34:21
Speaker 1: Oh my god, we searched so much in the areas
34:23
Speaker 1: where the vehic correspond and probably at three or four
34:26
Speaker 1: mile radius of that just kind of clear that in
34:30
Speaker 1: case something happened in that area, and that's what we
34:33
Speaker 1: always do. Start work person last seen vehicles last seven
34:37
Speaker 1: about from there. Personally, I don't believe she's going to
34:40
Speaker 1: be in that area because of the time frame. Now
34:45
Speaker 1: I'm hoping this any minute, literally any minute that I'll
34:49
Speaker 1: be hearing from detectives and they have the information of
34:53
Speaker 1: the on star. And if we have that information, of
34:57
Speaker 1: course now we hopefully will of something to go on.
35:01
Speaker 1: I anticipate that is going to take good ways away
35:05
Speaker 1: is my anticipation at this time. I want to talk
35:09
Speaker 1: about this text and it proves to me Gloria that
35:13
Speaker 1: her her truck was staged to be near her home
35:18
Speaker 1: because this text that she sends out, which I believe
35:22
Speaker 1: was around uh pm, says that quote Hispanic males two
35:31
Speaker 1: are following her in a vehicle number one. She is Hispanic,
35:36
Speaker 1: So why would she say in those terms? Why would
35:40
Speaker 1: she use that phraseology? But also she's just six blocks
35:45
Speaker 1: away from her home. I don't think she would have
35:47
Speaker 1: even termed it somebody's following me when you've just left
35:52
Speaker 1: your house. How do you know somebody's following you haven't
35:54
Speaker 1: given him a chance to follow you yet. And that
35:57
Speaker 1: tells me that's all a big lie glory. Yet that
36:00
Speaker 1: didn't happen that way. When I when I read the text,
36:06
Speaker 1: I immediately said, this is not her. That's not the
36:10
Speaker 1: way she she would um phrase that, And being her,
36:16
Speaker 1: she wouldn't have text. She would have called somebody. She
36:20
Speaker 1: would have called me, her brother, or she would have
36:24
Speaker 1: called her father, but she would have not text. And
36:28
Speaker 1: especially the co worker at that time, she would not
36:32
Speaker 1: have done that, and that that was doing to text.
36:38
Speaker 1: What did you say about six nineteen at that time,
36:42
Speaker 1: at that time frame, she should be at the gym.
36:46
Speaker 1: She she wouldn't. She would leave the gym like at
36:49
Speaker 1: six thirty ish she would call me and like before
36:55
Speaker 1: she would have called, she would call me and tell me, oh,
36:58
Speaker 1: I'm heady. Tone. Well, this isn't right because she the
37:02
Speaker 1: baby wasn't sick that day, she didn't go get the baby,
37:06
Speaker 1: and she never reported for work. So all of this
37:11
Speaker 1: is a lie which puts my timeline back. Dr Daniel
37:15
Speaker 1: Bober joining me forensic psychiatrist. Someone not only has made
37:19
Speaker 1: off with her, they have taken great pains to try
37:22
Speaker 1: to throw us off the track. Dr Bober, I agree, Nancy, Um,
37:26
Speaker 1: everything points to this being something that's completely targeted. This
37:29
Speaker 1: was not random and not only was a targeted, but
37:32
Speaker 1: as you said, Um, everything is being done to throw
37:35
Speaker 1: us off the tracks. I totally agree with you, and
37:37
Speaker 1: you know, think about it. Jason Ocean's criminal defense attorney.
37:41
Speaker 1: You and I have covered and analyzed so many criminal cases.
37:45
Speaker 1: Typically in a random attack, the victim is attacked, they're robbed,
37:50
Speaker 1: they're assaulted, their carjacked, and bam, it's over and you
37:54
Speaker 1: want to get as far away from that vehicle as possible.
37:57
Speaker 1: You don't take the time to circle back almost twelve
38:00
Speaker 1: hours later to plant the truck and lay down a
38:04
Speaker 1: lot of fake text. You skedaddle, You're gone. So this
38:10
Speaker 1: tells me a lot about who the purp is Jason Oceans. Yeah,
38:14
Speaker 1: it shows us that it's someone in an inner circle,
38:19
Speaker 1: close enough to have a lot of information, and someone
38:21
Speaker 1: who's worried that the net could be cast on them
38:24
Speaker 1: in some way. So they're using their quote unquote intelligence
38:29
Speaker 1: and planning this and as a result of that that
38:32
Speaker 1: gives us even more and more cluse. But the circle
38:36
Speaker 1: is close and tight, not far, Jason Wilson, I agree
38:39
Speaker 1: with you and disagree with you at the same time.
38:43
Speaker 1: It's somebody that knows enough. They know about the baby,
38:48
Speaker 1: they know to say they're going to be late to work.
38:51
Speaker 1: They figure out who detects but Gloria, amen, as this
38:56
Speaker 1: is Maria's sister. They don't know enough to know that
39:01
Speaker 1: she would be at the gym. They don't know enough
39:04
Speaker 1: that they don't call. They called the baby Daz, not Destiny.
39:08
Speaker 1: A lot of of of clues is that they may
39:12
Speaker 1: know her, but they don't know her well enough to
39:15
Speaker 1: know those significant factors. Gloria, that is correct. So what
39:21
Speaker 1: they don't know that she would have a family, or
39:25
Speaker 1: or that at that time she would text the family, Gloria,
39:30
Speaker 1: tell me what's going on in your mind right now?
39:34
Speaker 1: I think it's somebody that knows her, somebody that planned this.
39:43
Speaker 1: It's somebody that she knows. Tim Miller, equa search. Tell
39:48
Speaker 1: me about the search as it's standing right now. What
39:51
Speaker 1: ground have you covered? What has been done? What is
39:53
Speaker 1: happening now? A lot of ground and we've got a
39:57
Speaker 1: lot more and and again hopefully, uh, the sound star
40:03
Speaker 1: is going to lead us in a direction. We need
40:05
Speaker 1: to be personally anti. I think I have some time
40:10
Speaker 1: with him, talk to the person that's responsible. And I'm
40:13
Speaker 1: going to leave that one where it's at. What I
40:18
Speaker 1: know you brought in a t V. What about tracker dogs? Well,
40:24
Speaker 1: we don't have a starting point. We know that she
40:27
Speaker 1: was not abducted. Where that vehicle was found we know
40:32
Speaker 1: that for a fact. So there's no place to start
40:36
Speaker 1: almost highly agree weather down here, and we just burned
40:40
Speaker 1: dogs out and I shall we've been burning our people
40:44
Speaker 1: out there. There's not a starting point whatsoever. And again,
40:49
Speaker 1: hopefully this oddstar it is going to lead us in
40:53
Speaker 1: a area we need to be. My favorite about that though,
40:57
Speaker 1: is not as that car, as that truck was planning
41:00
Speaker 1: and if she was taking another vehicle and they we're
41:03
Speaker 1: hoping that's not the facts right now that it looked
41:06
Speaker 1: like it's a fact. But you know, this morning with
41:11
Speaker 1: the on Star report, UM, I think that's gonna be
41:15
Speaker 1: the most valuable thing that we have now if they
41:19
Speaker 1: can whether they're evident with the investigation of evidence comes
41:24
Speaker 1: up that yes, there was definitely found play well, I
41:27
Speaker 1: can tell you right now that uh yeah. I think
41:33
Speaker 1: the investigation leads that way to the point that they
41:37
Speaker 1: can get the phone records, and then they can get
41:40
Speaker 1: the phone records also as a person of interest, Um,
41:45
Speaker 1: I think we've got an opportunity that we can find her.
41:48
Speaker 1: And unfortunately I don't think we're going to bring her
41:51
Speaker 1: home the way we want to. The family. Well, I'm
41:53
Speaker 1: still holding out hope on that I really am. I'm
41:58
Speaker 1: thinking back on the twins when they were just three
42:00
Speaker 1: years older. Boy that they made their mom. I want
42:03
Speaker 1: to go go to Maria's sister, Gloria Iman as Gloria,
42:08
Speaker 1: tell me what your theory is. You're working theory right now.
42:13
Speaker 1: I just I'm just hoping that she comes home. UM.
42:18
Speaker 1: I'm hoping that. Um. Probably whoever started this, whoever, all right,
42:30
Speaker 1: I just have a lot of I really don't know.
42:33
Speaker 1: I can't even think. I'm just praying to God that
42:36
Speaker 1: she is will and she comes back home. Joining me.
42:42
Speaker 1: Crime online dot Com investigative reporter Lee Egan, Lee, what
42:48
Speaker 1: can you tell me by the search as it stands
42:50
Speaker 1: right now? As it stands right now, Nancy, they are
42:53
Speaker 1: continuing to search, according to the c i O at
42:56
Speaker 1: the Houston Police Department. Now they didn't tell me much,
43:00
Speaker 1: but they did say him Miller and his team are
43:02
Speaker 1: on the search and it is ongoing. She still is
43:05
Speaker 1: the misconsidered a missing person with mainly Egan. Crime online
43:10
Speaker 1: dot Com reporter Jason Oceans you know waves to his
43:15
Speaker 1: shoulder to shoulder. Although we argue most of the time
43:18
Speaker 1: for so long now on the on various criminal cases,
43:21
Speaker 1: but Jason, which way can we turn now? What what's
43:25
Speaker 1: your working theory? I'm still I'm still that it's someone
43:29
Speaker 1: who knows her well enough. Maybe not uh, with such
43:33
Speaker 1: specificity relative to calling Destiny Deaz and so forth, but
43:38
Speaker 1: but enough to try and fudge through. That's that says,
43:40
Speaker 1: someone perhaps at work, someone recently known to her, that
43:44
Speaker 1: knows enough information so it doesn't feel random. Uh, it does,
43:50
Speaker 1: as Tim say, feel very planned and and bringing the
43:53
Speaker 1: car back again, as you say, uh, all a part
43:56
Speaker 1: of something that ties it in a lot closer uh
44:00
Speaker 1: then further away. So I think once we get those records,
44:04
Speaker 1: and we're waiting for them very soon, I will have
44:07
Speaker 1: a much better snapshot of where we are. That's been
44:09
Speaker 1: a slowdown. Thanks US Supreme Court for your ruling. Guys.
44:14
Speaker 1: This Houston woman, this young mom, has not been seen
44:17
Speaker 1: since she dropped her baby, three year old Destiny Destiny,
44:21
Speaker 1: off of the babysitters and headed to work. Maria was
44:25
Speaker 1: last saying wearing a dressy shirt, possibly green in color,
44:29
Speaker 1: pastel colored slacks. She had on brown ballet slipper type
44:35
Speaker 1: shoes a pink apple watch. She was carrying a tan purse.
44:43
Speaker 1: Tim Miller with echo search on the scene and has
44:46
Speaker 1: been searching for the young mom Maria. What we know
44:50
Speaker 1: now she has not been seen since she dropped off
44:53
Speaker 1: Destiny with the babysitter, her truck turning up near Wallaceville
44:57
Speaker 1: and Wayside. She is a very risk posible, never missed
45:01
Speaker 1: his work, and a disappearance of this nature is not
45:06
Speaker 1: like her. The search is active in going on now.
45:12
Speaker 1: The search command center is located in the parking lot
45:15
Speaker 1: of Texas Truck Parts and Tires A two North Wayside
45:20
Speaker 1: that's at Wallstville Road in Houston. Guys, where is this
45:25
Speaker 1: young mom? All we have now are a series of
45:31
Speaker 1: seemingly fake texts. Tell me, Gloria, how is Destiny without Mommy?
45:42
Speaker 1: The current news She's thinks she's on vacation. She we've
45:48
Speaker 1: center with her godparents. Um, she still doesn't know that
45:53
Speaker 1: mom is missing. She thinks Mommy is at the hospital,
45:57
Speaker 1: um getting a shot, getting a shot, and UM, we
46:05
Speaker 1: haven't told her anything. But the day before yesterday, I
46:08
Speaker 1: spoke with her and she just asked me, Dida, can
46:12
Speaker 1: you please come pick me up? I want to see you.
46:15
Speaker 1: Do you really miss me? I mean I feel that
46:18
Speaker 1: she knows something's going on. But nobody is showing her
46:24
Speaker 1: any feelings or anything. We're trying to keep her calm.
46:29
Speaker 1: She is a sick baby, so we're just trying to
46:35
Speaker 1: what she has. UM. It's a rare condition. Uh. It
46:42
Speaker 1: attacks her muscles. It's a muscle disorder and she gets seizures.
46:47
Speaker 1: She has UM. You're in problems. They have to be Cather,
46:53
Speaker 1: Cather guys in her um and she has to take
46:58
Speaker 1: a lot of medication and only she goes to therapy
47:02
Speaker 1: physical and UM. It's for her muscles. It's all for
47:08
Speaker 1: for the muscles. You can do right now is is
47:12
Speaker 1: follow these leads and pray for this little girl destiny
47:17
Speaker 1: with so many physical and medical elements that needs her
47:22
Speaker 1: mom so desperately. We are on the search for Maria
47:29
Speaker 1: Imenez Rodriguez. Please help us bring her home. Tipline is
47:35
Speaker 1: seven three eight eight four three one three one also
47:42
Speaker 1: eight three two three nine four eighteen forty Where is Maria?
47:51
Speaker 1: Nancy Gray's crime story signing off goodbye friend. Did you
48:00
Speaker 1: know a recent law can leave your personal data exposed
48:04
Speaker 1: online for anybody to find? If you've turned on the
48:08
Speaker 1: news lately, you know the internet has created a dangerous
48:11
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