Latest / Gone Cold - Texas True Crime / The Abduction & Slaying of Danydia Thompson

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The Abduction & Slaying of Danydia Thompson · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

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Speaker 1: Gone Coal. Podcasts may contain violent or graphics subject matter.
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Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised. Located roughly forty miles north of
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Speaker 1: Austin on the westernmost edge of Bell County, Colleen, Texas
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Speaker 1: was founded in eighteen eighty two after the land was
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Speaker 1: purchased by the railroad to extend tracks through the area.
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Speaker 1: The prior year. After the tracks were built, construction on
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Speaker 1: seventy two city blocks began on the town, named after
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Speaker 1: railroad exect Frank P. Colleen, a man who wasn't from
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Speaker 1: the area and in fact had never stepped foot there.
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Speaker 1: Immediately following the construction of the lumberyard, gristmills and cotton
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Speaker 1: gins were a couple saloons, followed by, of course, drunk
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Speaker 1: gun slingers who'd often take their disagreements and pistols to
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Speaker 1: the city's streets for settling. By the early eighteen nineties,
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Speaker 1: lawless business had gotten so out of hand in Colleen
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Speaker 1: that the town was incorporated as an official Texas city
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Speaker 1: just to bring in law enforcement to calm things down.
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Speaker 1: The half decade or so after that was fairly low
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Speaker 1: key in the area. It was sparsely populated and consisted
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Speaker 1: mostly of cotton farmers and gin workers, though the Texas
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Speaker 1: Legislature's approval and subsequent building of bridges over area streams
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Speaker 1: just after the turn of the twentieth century nearly doubled
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Speaker 1: the population of Colleen, bringing it to thirteen hundred, and
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Speaker 1: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal brought paved roads along
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Speaker 1: with public water and sewage systems. After the Great Depression,
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Speaker 1: it wasn't until the construction of camp Hood that the
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Speaker 1: city's population and development really took off. When the US
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Speaker 1: entered World War II, the immediate need to train soldiers
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Speaker 1: to fight Germany's sophisticated war machine technolog cology transformed Kelleen,
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Speaker 1: Texas from a modest but significant cotton producer into little
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Speaker 1: more than a military boomtown. The city lost about half
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Speaker 1: of its trade center to camp Hood. The farming and
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Speaker 1: ranching economies were virtually destroyed, as were the businesses related
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Speaker 1: to them. Though one thousand or so citizens left, they
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Speaker 1: were replaced by about the same number of transplants in
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Speaker 1: the form of soldiers, their families, and camp Hood construction workers.
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Speaker 1: Five years after the devastating bombs that ended World War
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Speaker 1: II were dropped in nineteen fifty, camp Hood was established
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Speaker 1: as a permanent army base and was renamed Fort Hood.
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Speaker 1: Colleen's population saw more than a fifteen hundred percent increase
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Speaker 1: by nineteen fifty five, from around thirteen hundred to twenty
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Speaker 1: one thousand. The economy continued to grow for the next
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Speaker 1: several decades, save a few hiccups in the form of
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Speaker 1: recessions here and there. By nineteen ninety, Colleen was a
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Speaker 1: full fledged city, with sixty three thousand residents within its limits,
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Speaker 1: and over a quarter of a million folks made up
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Speaker 1: the Kaleen Temple fort Hood metropolitan area. The nineteen nineties
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Speaker 1: brought with them more than just continued growth. Alongside this
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Speaker 1: steady rise in population and endurance of a relatively stable economy,
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Speaker 1: something else also continued, the city's murder boom. If you
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Speaker 1: don't live there, but are familiar with Colleen, there's a
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Speaker 1: decent chance it's for one of two things. First, the
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Speaker 1: controversies surrounding the disappearances and deaths of military men and
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Speaker 1: women there. Beyond the jaw dropping number of Army veterans
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Speaker 1: and Fort Hood stationed soldiers murdered in Colleen, the city
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Speaker 1: is also well known, perhaps best known, for what was
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Speaker 1: the deadliest single gun mass shooting in the United States
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Speaker 1: until two thousand and seven's Virginia Tech massacre. On October sixteenth,
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Speaker 1: nineteen ninety one, thirty five year old George Joe Hennerd
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Speaker 1: smashed his pickup truck through the front window of Louby's
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Speaker 1: Cafeteria and Colleen during lunch rush. Henrd exited the vehicle
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Speaker 1: and proceeded to meticulously stalk the restaurant, picking out who
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Speaker 1: he'd slay in cold blood before his suicide as the
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Speaker 1: police cornered him. Henrd had executed twenty three people and
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Speaker 1: injured twenty seven by shooting them at point blank range
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Speaker 1: using nine millimeter semiautomatic handguns. Years later, in nineteen ninety seven,
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Speaker 1: another heinous crime occurred, one that shook and almost certainly
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Speaker 1: shaped Colleen, But unlike the Louby's Cafeteria massacre, it's been
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Speaker 1: all but forgotten outside the area. This is the tragic
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Speaker 1: story of the kidnapping and murder of seven year old
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Speaker 1: Donadia Thompson. Donadia Betty Jacqueline Thompson was born in Colleen, Texas,
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Speaker 1: on March the fifth, nineteen ninety to parents James and
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Speaker 1: Gala Donadia was a big personality and affectionately known by
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Speaker 1: just about everyone as Niini. Though she and her slightly
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Speaker 1: older brother Delane often teamed up against their older sister
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Speaker 1: Danielle the only way they could possibly gain an upper hand,
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Speaker 1: da Nadia was an all around, sweet and loving child.
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Speaker 1: She was one of those kids whose intelligence and curiosity
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Speaker 1: came naturally and seemed effortless. Once Donadia became school aged,
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Speaker 1: her love for learning shone bright. She breathed through her
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Speaker 1: work as a first grader with diligence and pride. As
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Speaker 1: the end of her first grade year drew nearer. Seven
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Speaker 1: year old d Nadia was happy and confident, and like
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Speaker 1: so many other little girls, her daily style choices sometimes
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Speaker 1: changed last minute. On the morning of Wednesday, April thirtieth,
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Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven, as Donadia's mother, Gala prepared her nine
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Speaker 1: year old Delane and thirteen year old Danielle for school,
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Speaker 1: the seven year old decided a ponytail was going to
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Speaker 1: be the appropriate hairstyle for the day, so Gala pulled
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Speaker 1: back her hair and secured it with a tie. She
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Speaker 1: loaded the kids in the car and headed to Donadia's
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Speaker 1: grandmother's house, where they went most mornings, as did two
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Speaker 1: of their cousins. Donadia's first middle name, Betty, was in
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Speaker 1: honor of her grandmother. As they hopped out of the
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Speaker 1: car to go inside grandma's Donadia grabbed her backpack, turned
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Speaker 1: to her mother and said, I love you. Marlborough Elementary School,
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Speaker 1: now called Jackson Professional Learning Center, was about four blocks
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Speaker 1: from Donadia's grandmother's house, and at around seven thirty five am, she, Delane, Danielle,
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Speaker 1: and their two cousins set out for the day's classes
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Speaker 1: and to eat breakfast at the school's cafeteria. Danielle walked
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Speaker 1: the younger kids to Reverend Abercrombie Drive, where Marlborough Elementary
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Speaker 1: was in sight, before heading to her school, Manor Middle,
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Speaker 1: where she was a seventh grader. As Danielle began walking
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Speaker 1: toward her school several blocks away, told her big sister
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Speaker 1: she loved her. Later, the excitement of the day's final
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Speaker 1: school bell sent Marlboro Elementary into chaos. The kids couldn't
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Speaker 1: get out of class to enjoy the evening fast enough.
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Speaker 1: Delane Thompson made his way through the thick of it
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Speaker 1: to meet his sister, d Nadia, and their cousins at
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Speaker 1: the same spot they met every day so they could
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Speaker 1: all walk back to Grandma's together. His two cousins arrived
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Speaker 1: and the three goofed off some as they waited for Dnadia.
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Speaker 1: They waited and waited for what seemed like an eternity,
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Speaker 1: but d Nadia never showed. After the steady flow of
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Speaker 1: loud and anxious children slowed to a trickle, Delane and
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Speaker 1: his cousins split up and searched the school grounds, but
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Speaker 1: the seven year old girl was nowhere to be found.
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Speaker 1: Thinking d Nadia had broken routine and headed back to
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Speaker 1: Grandma's on her own, they began that route to themselves.
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Speaker 1: Walking back from Manor Middle School, Donadia and Delane's thirteen
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Speaker 1: year old sister, Danielle, met her brother and cousins near
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Speaker 1: Reverend Abercrombie Drive. As she prepared to race them home
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Speaker 1: as was the usual routine, her heart skipped a beat
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Speaker 1: as her thoughts caught up with her eyes. Donadia wasn't
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Speaker 1: with Delane and their cousins, and she knew immediately that
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Speaker 1: something was wrong. But Danielle could not have possibly comprehended
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Speaker 1: at that moment that the nightmare had just begun. When
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Speaker 1: Donadia Thompson didn't show up to meet her cousins, brother
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Speaker 1: Delane and sister Danielle to walk home together after school
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Speaker 1: on Wednesday, April thirtieth, nineteen ninety seven. The children figured
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Speaker 1: or hoped that she had simply raced to their grandmother's
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Speaker 1: house without them. However, when they arrived, Donadia wasn't there.
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Speaker 1: Nine year old Delane was worried and snapped right into
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Speaker 1: big brother mode, racing back to Marlborough Elementary to look
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Speaker 1: again and ask around. It was around four pm at
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Speaker 1: this point school had been out for a while, and
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Speaker 1: d Nadia's aunt and big sister followed close behind Delane
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Speaker 1: on foot. They all spoke with a few students that
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Speaker 1: had straggled behind and were still there, but no one
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Speaker 1: had seen Donadia. Danielle and her aunt reported the seven
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Speaker 1: year old first grader's disappearance to school officials quickly and
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Speaker 1: found out that she'd been marked absent for the day.
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Speaker 1: Donadia never made it to class at all. A call
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Speaker 1: was made to the Colleen Police. Moving quickly, the cops
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Speaker 1: began piecing together Donadia Thompson's movements that morning the girl
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Speaker 1: had made to school. Witnesses told detectives they'd seen Donadia
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Speaker 1: and her young family members separate as they approached Marlborough Elementary.
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Speaker 1: She made it inside the building, and in fact, she
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Speaker 1: and her brother delane ate breakfast in the cafeteria together.
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Speaker 1: But Dinadia had eaten fast and left the lunch room
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Speaker 1: alone to get a few minutes at the playground before
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Speaker 1: the school bell rang. It was then and there that
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Speaker 1: witnesses were called seeing something seemingly harmless at the time,
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Speaker 1: but absolutely blood chilling in hindsight. At around eight am,
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Speaker 1: as Dnadia was having fun on the playground, a man
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Speaker 1: approached the fence that surrounded it. At a gap in
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Speaker 1: that fence, this man called out to Donadia by name.
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Speaker 1: The two talked briefly. Presumably the several individuals who witnessed
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Speaker 1: this were too far to hear the short conversation. After
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Speaker 1: the strange man and Donadia had spoken for a minute
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Speaker 1: or so, he scooped up the first grader and she
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Speaker 1: climbed on his back. This situation, of course, allowed for
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Speaker 1: little other reaction than great alarm, and when police discovered
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Speaker 1: another witness who had seen the man and the little
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Speaker 1: girl two blocks away, fear for her safety escalated even more.
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Speaker 1: That witness was a neighbor of the Thompson family who
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Speaker 1: recognized Donadia. The sighting was at approximately eight thirty am
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Speaker 1: at the corner of Jeffreys Street and US Highway one ninety.
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Speaker 1: The young girl didn't seem to be under duress, this
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Speaker 1: witness told police, and was still writing piggyback on the man.
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Speaker 1: Not one of the witnesses recognized him. Searches performed that
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Speaker 1: evening were fruitless, the darkness only further obscuring any trace
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Speaker 1: of the missing girl. The following day, Thursday, May, first,
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Speaker 1: word about the abduction of Donadia Thompson spread around Colleen,
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Speaker 1: particularly in her community on the East Side. Missing Persons
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Speaker 1: flyers were created quickly and hung virtually everywhere in the city,
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Speaker 1: and volunteers came in droves the following day to help
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Speaker 1: search for the first grader, including relatives, neighbors, and Fort
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Speaker 1: Hood soldiers. Searchers were combing through vacant lots, fields, alleyways
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Speaker 1: and area parks around Marlborough Elementary. A radius of approximately
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Speaker 1: three miles around the school was carefully searched, and folks
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Speaker 1: all over town kept up a watchful eye. The search
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Speaker 1: parties worked into the next day, never letting up. By Saturday,
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Speaker 1: May third, nineteen ninety seven, a local radio station lent
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Speaker 1: a plane and pilot to the search efforts. A US
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Speaker 1: customs chopper was also sent in, as was a tracking
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Speaker 1: dog courtesy of the Williamson County Sheriff's Office. Formed after
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Speaker 1: the still unsolved abduction and murder of eleven year old
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Speaker 1: Heidi Seamen in nineteen ninety, San Antonio based the Heidi
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Speaker 1: Search Center sent five of their own to aid in
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Speaker 1: locating seven year old Donadia Thompson. These volunteers had come
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Speaker 1: straight from Friendswood, Texas, where they'd participated in the large
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Speaker 1: scale search for Laura Kate Smither, a twelve year old
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Speaker 1: girl who disappeared earlier in the month. Searchers found Laura's body,
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Speaker 1: but the case didn't close until twenty years later, when
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Speaker 1: serial rapist and killer of young women and little girls,
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Speaker 1: William Lewis Reese finally confessed to her murder among others
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Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen. Heidi Search and Recovery quickly organized the
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Speaker 1: many volunteers into separate parties and gave a crash course
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Speaker 1: in the best and most effective methods to conduct the searches,
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Speaker 1: freeing up time for the Colleen Police to investigate by
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Speaker 1: speaking with witnesses and attempting to identify and question known
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Speaker 1: sex offenders and other criminals in the area. Organizers immediately
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Speaker 1: took their message to television news crews and Colleen Daily
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Speaker 1: Herald newspaper reporters to plead their case for more volunteers.
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Speaker 1: Folks sitting at home in front of their TVs should
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Speaker 1: be out looking for the girl, they said, and funds
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Speaker 1: were needed post haste. The faster a reward could be
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Speaker 1: offered to entice witnesses to come forward, heidisearch officials said,
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Speaker 1: the more likely the chance they'd find the missing first grader.
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Speaker 1: Donadia's mother, Gala Thompson, pleaded for her missing daughter to
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Speaker 1: call home on the local news and thanked the many
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Speaker 1: volunteers who had joined in the efforts. On Sunday, Donadia's father,
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Speaker 1: James Thompson, arrived from Benton Harbor, Michigan. The girl's distraught grandfather,
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Speaker 1: Al Taylor, continued to head up searches in North Colleen.
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Speaker 1: Then came Monday. Though volunteers and authorities hadn't relented absolutely,
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Speaker 1: no trace of the missing girl had been found that day,
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Speaker 1: May fifth, nineteen ninety seven, A composite sketch of the
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Speaker 1: man seen giving Donadia Thompson a piggyback ride away from
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Speaker 1: Marboro Elementary was released. He was described as a dark
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Speaker 1: complexioned black man, around twenty six years old, five feet
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Speaker 1: ten inches tall and slender. His nose was described as thin,
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Speaker 1: his mustache as thick, and his hairstyle a short afro.
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Speaker 1: The man wore a black waist length jacket, baggy black pants,
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Speaker 1: and light colored tennis shoes. The drawing, as is the
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Speaker 1: case with most composite sketches, left much to be desired.
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Speaker 1: Though the Colleen police wouldn't comment on motive and in
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Speaker 1: fact told newspapers they didn't know of one, it seemed
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Speaker 1: obvious from the get go that the intent behind the
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Speaker 1: abduction of this little girl was dark and depraved. Donadia's
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Speaker 1: father lived in Michigan, after all, so a custody dispute
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Speaker 1: could be ruled out immediately. Since witnesses didn't recognize the
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Speaker 1: man and family didn't recognize the description of him, it
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Speaker 1: seemed he was a stranger to relatives, friends, and neighbors,
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Speaker 1: but perhaps not to Donadia herself, since he was heard
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Speaker 1: calling out to her by name, and since she appeared
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Speaker 1: to be in no distress, when they released the composite sketch,
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Speaker 1: police also pleaded for a specific witness to come forward.
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Speaker 1: This person was driving south on in Jeffrey's Street at
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Speaker 1: about eight fifteen the morning Donadia Thompson was kidnapped. As
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Speaker 1: they came to a stop behind another vehicle who was
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Speaker 1: letting pedestrians cross. The driver began honking their horn in
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Speaker 1: an attempt to hurry along the small traffic jam. It's
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Speaker 1: unclear if the cops truly sought the driver as a witness,
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Speaker 1: or if they believed, for reasons unknown, he or she
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Speaker 1: was involved in the kidnapping. A reward for information leading
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Speaker 1: to the arrest and conviction of Donadia Thompson's abductor was
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Speaker 1: quickly established by police and other donors and announced on
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Speaker 1: Tuesday May sixth. By the Wednesday following her disappearance, thousands
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Speaker 1: of volunteers had joined in the search for seven year
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Speaker 1: old Donadia. Many came from nearby Austin, and others came
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Speaker 1: from as far away as Dallas. Because of the discovery
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Speaker 1: of twelve year old Laura Kateson Smithers body just a
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Speaker 1: little over a week before, they traveled to Colleen to
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Speaker 1: begin searching for seven year old Donadia Thompson. Organizers with
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Speaker 1: Heidi Search and Recovery might have hoped to find the
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Speaker 1: missing girl alive, but perhaps expected the worst possible outcome.
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Speaker 1: After all, tragic stories of the abductions and murders of
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Speaker 1: children and teenagers had been flooding the news cycle all
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Speaker 1: over Texas in the recent past. Besides Laura Smithers kidnapping
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Speaker 1: and slang in Friendswood, the still unsolved slang of nine
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Speaker 1: year old Amber Hagerman in Arlington in January of the
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Speaker 1: previous year remained in the news cycle. The kidnappings of
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Speaker 1: nine year old Cody Patterson and eleven year old Sarah
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Speaker 1: Patterson in Granberry the very same day of Donadia's abduction
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Speaker 1: were all over newspaper headlines and television news reports. Cody
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Speaker 1: was found badly injured but alive. Luckily, when his mother's
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Speaker 1: boyfriend was apprehended while folks one hundred and twenty miles
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Speaker 1: away and Colleen searched for Donadia, it was discovered he
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Speaker 1: had raped and killed Sarah. The national news wouldn't relent
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Speaker 1: from the hellish reality of child snatching, rape and murder.
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Speaker 1: In Beaumont, California, ten year old Anthony Martinez disappeared on
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Speaker 1: April fourth, nineteen ninety seven, and was found in an
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Speaker 1: Indio desert two weeks later. But until it happened in
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Speaker 1: their own backyard, Colleen residents only had a passing fear
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Speaker 1: that one of their children would become victim to such
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Speaker 1: a monster. Eight days after Donadia was abducted, her family,
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Speaker 1: her family, and the city of Colleen's nightmare was realized
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Speaker 1: when she was found a half a mile north of
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Speaker 1: the Lampasas River. At around nine thirty am on Thursday,
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Speaker 1: May eighth, nineteen ninety seven, two Fort Hood soldiers searching
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Speaker 1: the brushy fields alongside Texas State Highway one ninety five,
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Speaker 1: about ten miles south of the city of Colleen in
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Speaker 1: rural Bell County, discovered a black plastic trash bag in
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Speaker 1: the ditch, about fifteen feet from the road to the west.
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Speaker 1: It was far enough off the highway that passers by
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Speaker 1: likely didn't even notice it, and further hidden by overgrown
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Speaker 1: grass and fully bloomed wildflowers. The plastic was frayed and torn,
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Speaker 1: both from the elements and wildlife activity protruding from it
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Speaker 1: or human remains. Colleen Police were called to the scene
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Speaker 1: right away. Items found inside the plastic bag alongside the
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Speaker 1: remains and the body size led police to immediately speculate
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Speaker 1: that it was seven year old Donadia Thompson. Law enforcement
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Speaker 1: didn't disclose what items led them to that presumption, but
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Speaker 1: likely it was the clothing. The placement of the body
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Speaker 1: in the plastic bag was thought to have accelerated the decomposition.
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Speaker 1: Temperatures too, had been particularly hot for the late spring,
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Speaker 1: with highs in the low nineties also accelerating the decay.
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Speaker 1: The remains were not easily identifiable by sight. Clues around
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Speaker 1: the scene were sparse. Police couldn't ascertain if the bag
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Speaker 1: and body were thrown from a moving vehicle or walked
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Speaker 1: to and placed where they were found. A cause of
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Speaker 1: death wasn't readily apparent, partially due to the advanced stage
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Speaker 1: of decomposition. The Klleen Police called off the searches for
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Speaker 1: Donadia Thompson pending identification, and publicly announced the discovery. Donadia's mother,
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Speaker 1: Gala Thompson, was shattered by the news. She was transported
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Speaker 1: to a local hospital after she fainted. Though the remains
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Speaker 1: weren't officially identified as her daughters, she knew they were.
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Speaker 1: The police told her as much. The body was sent
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Speaker 1: to the Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas for
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Speaker 1: autopsy and to be idd by anthropologist Kimball Smith. It
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Speaker 1: wasn't until weeks later, on May thirtieth, nineteen ninety seven,
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Speaker 1: that it was finally announced officially that the remains were
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Speaker 1: identified as Donadia Thompson. Police declined to comment on her
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Speaker 1: cause of death, and in fact have not released that
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Speaker 1: information to this day. Also kept close to the chest
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Speaker 1: was whether Donadia Thompson was raped. Family members, of course,
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Speaker 1: were scrutinized, but more than once Colleen police detectives have
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Speaker 1: said publicly that relatives had nothing to do with it.
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Speaker 1: Apparently the rumor mill suggested otherwise, but other incidents only
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Speaker 1: strengthened the notion that family was not involved in any way.
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Speaker 1: On the other side of town in southwest Colleen, in
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Speaker 1: early June, a little girl ran away as a man
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Speaker 1: attempted to get her into his van. The girl reported
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Speaker 1: the incident, but police were quick to quell fears by
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Speaker 1: telling the media that while the incident was being investigated,
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Speaker 1: it wasn't considered to be connected to Donadia's abduction, at
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Speaker 1: least not at first. When a composite sketch of the
24:45
Speaker 1: attempted abductor was created. It turned out to resemble the
24:49
Speaker 1: suspect in Donadia's kidnapping and murder. Days before that, at
24:54
Speaker 1: about six thirty pm on May twenty eighth, in nearby Temple, Texas,
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Speaker 1: a mother turned her back to her two year old
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Speaker 1: boy as he sat playing on the front steps of
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Speaker 1: their apartment unit. When she turned back around, the mother
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Speaker 1: said a strange man was leading her son away by
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Speaker 1: his hand. She ran toward the man's screaming, and he fled.
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Speaker 1: The FBI became involved and began exploring the idea that
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Speaker 1: the cases were related. Whatever the conclusion was, it was
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Speaker 1: never commented on again publicly, and the abduction and murder
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Speaker 1: of Donadia Thompson went cold almost as soon as it
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Speaker 1: had taken place. By late June nineteen ninety seven, all
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Speaker 1: leads had been followed, and Lieutenant Lee Cawfield is quoted
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Speaker 1: as saying that the department had no more directions to
25:46
Speaker 1: go in. At that point, the cops had received over
25:50
Speaker 1: two thousand tips from the general public. Donadia's name faded
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Speaker 1: from the headlines. Colleen homicide Detective Fred Harris picked up
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Speaker 1: Donatius case in twenty eleven. Harris credited the hard work
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Speaker 1: of detectives before him, those who laid the groundwork for
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Speaker 1: the significant leads he uncovered in twenty thirteen under the
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Speaker 1: public's radar the year he came on the case, Detective
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Speaker 1: Harris said he would refuse offers for a promotion until
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Speaker 1: he had apprehended Donadius's killer. He's kept his word. In
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Speaker 1: the initial investigation, a strong person of interest was indeed identified,
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Speaker 1: only the cops never found the man to question him.
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Speaker 1: In twenty fifteen, Colleen police publicly pleaded for a witness
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Speaker 1: to come forward. In that plea, they said a woman
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Speaker 1: named Maria Lashawn Taylor might have information about Donadia's murder.
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Speaker 1: Taylor is or was at the time a resident of Caldwell,
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Speaker 1: almost eighty miles southeast of Colleen, the police said, but
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Speaker 1: frequented the temple Colleen Aria regularly. She was called a
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Speaker 1: key witness in the police attempts to find her. It's
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Speaker 1: unclear if detectives ever spoke with Taylor. By twenty eighteen,
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Speaker 1: Detective Harris said new leads emerged that will likely lead
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Speaker 1: to resolution. After police followed up on tips with a
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Speaker 1: series of polygraphs, hypnosis sessions, and interestingly, handwriting statement analysis.
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Speaker 1: He strongly believes. Harris said that he knows who killed Donadia.
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Speaker 1: If you have any information about the abduction and murder
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Speaker 1: of Donadia Betty Jacqueline Thompson, please contact Bell County Crimestoppers
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Speaker 1: a light on unsought homicides and missing persons cases, get
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Speaker 1: else you listen. However you choose to support Gone Cold,
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Speaker 1: we appreciate you. Thanks for listening, y'all,