Latest / Midday Missing / Susan Walsh_ She Walked to a Pay Phone and Vanished Without a Trace

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Susan Walsh_ She Walked to a Pay Phone and Vanished Without a Trace · Midday Missing

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: On July 16th, 1996, 36-year-old Susan Walsh walked out of
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: her New Jersey home, reportedly telling her estranged husband she
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: was heading to a nearby payphone. She left behind her
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: 11-year-old son, her belongings, and a life that was far
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: more complicated than most people realized. Susan was a mother,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: a college student, an aspiring journalist, and off and on
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  Speaker 1: exotic dancer, who had been investigating some dangerous and disturbing worlds,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: including the Russian mob and the underground vampire culture. But
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: was Susan getting too close to something someone wanted to
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  Speaker 1: keep hidden? Or did her investigation have something to do
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: with her disappearance? Or was that truth much closer to home?
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Nearly three decades later, Susan has never been found. And
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: that question remains. what really happened to Susan Walsh after
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: she walked out that door. Hello, lovelies. I am Terry
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: True Crime, and welcome to Midday Missing, where we shine
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: light on missing person cases that deserve more attention, more awareness,
• 1:34
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• 1:38
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• 1:42
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• 1:50
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• 1:53
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• 2:01
  Speaker 1: the public eye, and help let the families know that
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: their loved ones have not been forgotten. Hello, Laney. Welcome in.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: It's great to see you. Today, we are in New Jersey, Laney.
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  Speaker 1: We'll see if you know where Nutley, New Jersey is,
• 2:17
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• 2:19
  Speaker 1: this case. But before we get started, if you haven't already,
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• 2:52
  Speaker 1: of the missing person. I hope you all are doing
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: well here today, and I am excited to have you here.
• 3:01
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• 3:06
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  Speaker 1: diligence and trying to find that. Now let's get started.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: July 16th, 1996 was an ordinary summer day in Nutley,
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  Speaker 1: New Jersey. But before that day was over, 36-year-old Susan
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Walsh would step away from the apartment building where she
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: lived with her son and disappear into a mystery that
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: has lasted for three decades. Susan left her son David
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  Speaker 1: in the care of her estranged husband, Mark, who lived
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: in the same building. She reportedly said she'd be back
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: shortly and was believed to be heading out to make
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  Speaker 1: a telephone call. She left behind the things that usually
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: travel with the person who intends to go anywhere for long,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: her wallet, her pager, and her other personal belongings. However,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Susan never came back. There has been no confirmed sighting
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: of her since that day, no verified communication from her,
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  Speaker 1: and no discovery that explains where she went or what
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: happened after she walked away from home. Oh, Nutley is
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the next town over from you. Well, if you don't
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: know this story, buckle up because you're going to learn
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: some things, okay? Because this disappearance would eventually acquire almost
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: every ingredient capable of turning a missing person's case into
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: a tabloid spectacle. Susan was a freelance journalist who had
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: researched Russian organized crimes. and the exploitation of women working
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: in strip clubs. She had immersed herself in New York's
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: underground vampire scene for another story. She had worked as
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: an exotic dancer herself. She had even talked about being stopped.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: She had struggled with alcohol and drugs, and people close
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: to her feared that after years of sobriety, she was
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: slipping back into addiction. She was dealing with physical illnesses,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: some emotional instability, financial pressures, a complicated marriage, and the
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: demands of raising a child while trying to build a
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: writing career. Each piece became a possible explanation after she disappeared. However,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: before Susan became the woman in a mystery involving mobsters,
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  Speaker 1: exotic dancers, drugs, vampires, and whispered theories, She was a daughter,
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  Speaker 1: a student, a writer, and most importantly, she was David's mother.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Susan was born Susan Merchant on February 18th, 1960 in
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  Speaker 1: New Jersey. Friends who knew her when she was young
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: remembered someone intelligent, creative, and intensely interested in writing. She
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: attended William Patterson College, where she became involved with the
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: school's literary community. College, sadly, was also a period when
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: alcohol and drugs became a problem for Susan. Later, case
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: summaries and people who knew her described heavy drinking and
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: drug use during those years. The struggle was not something
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: that appeared suddenly, okay? It had been a history of
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: for years. Oh, so it is a university. Okay. I
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: am sorry. Was it a university back then? Because everything
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: I found said college. So thank you for letting me
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: know that. Susan also fought her way towards sobriety. And
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: by the time she graduated from William Patterson University in 1984,
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  Speaker 1: all accounts of her life indicated that she had stopped
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: drinking and and using drugs, okay? She would eventually accumulate
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: roughly 11 years of sobriety.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: And guys, that's a big deal, okay?
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  Speaker 1: That accomplishment matters.
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  Speaker 2: Because discussions of Susan.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Sometimes narrow her life into a list of dangers and addictions.
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  Speaker 1: 11 years of sobriety represents thousands of ordinary daily decisions
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  Speaker 1: to stay sober especially while raising a child, navigating a marriage, working, studying,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: and trying to become the writer she wanted to be.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Susan's addiction was real, but so was the long period
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: in which she worked to control it. Now, guys, I
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: want you to notice down in our scrolling banner, if
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  Speaker 1: you are struggling with addiction issues, there is help. So
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: please get help. It is never too late, and if
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: you have fought with addiction for years and you see
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: yourself close to falling off that wagon again, please reach
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: out and get help. The number is listed. Susan married
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Mark Walsh in 1984. Their son David was born during
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: that marriage, and motherhood became central to Susan's life. By 1996,
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  Speaker 1: Susan and Mark were estranged. But their lives remained physically
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: close because they lived in the same apartment building on
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Washington Street in Nutley. Now, Susan and David lived in
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: one apartment while Mark lived below them. And guys, I
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: have to tell you, that to me says a lot
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  Speaker 1: about people. I'm assuming they did this so that they
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: could be closer to the son that they both adored
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  Speaker 1: and try to keep his life as normal as possible. Okay. Family, friends,
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  Speaker 1: and colleagues have consistently pushed back against the idea that
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  Speaker 1: Susan would simply decide to abandon David. They said she
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  Speaker 1: would not do that. And Village Voice editor Karen Durbin said,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: told the Associated Press that Susan was extremely fond of
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: her son and she was a good mom. Now, that
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: in itself does not prove Susan could not have left voluntarily,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: but it explains why that theory has never set comfortably
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: with almost everyone who knew Susan. Susan's working life was unconventional,
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  Speaker 1: and she did not hide from that fact. She had
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: worked as an exotic dancer on and off since her
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: college years. Dancing provided money at times when school, motherhood,
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  Speaker 1: writing didn't provide enough. It also placed Susan inside a
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  Speaker 1: world many journalists could only observe from the doorways. She
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  Speaker 1: knew strip clubs from the employee side of the stage.
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  Speaker 1: She understood the money, the hierarchy, the vulnerability of dancers,
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  Speaker 1: and the difference between the fantasy sold on TV and
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: to customers, and the reality experienced by women who were
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  Speaker 1: just trying to pay bills. Welcome in, Lama. Welcome in,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Lady in Gray. Great to see you. If someone could
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: drop in the link again to the Midday Missing YouTube channel,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Lainey once again was struggling to find it. She has
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: now subscribed. But just in case anyone else watching is
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: having issues or on the replay crew, because we're only
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: going to be filming or filming, streaming on both channels
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: for a short amount of time. So now the work
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  Speaker 1: could be physically and emotionally punishing. Susan moved between dancing
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  Speaker 1: and writing, sometimes, like I said, returning to clubs because
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  Speaker 1: she needed money, even if she wanted to build a
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  Speaker 1: different future. She knew it was an easy way to
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  Speaker 1: pay her bills. And she was not simply a journalist
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  Speaker 1: who parachuted into the sex industry for a provocative assignment.
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  Speaker 1: She had lived in part of that world. That gave
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  Speaker 1: her reporting access. But It also meant her professional and
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  Speaker 1: personal lives could overlap in very confusing ways. Sources could
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  Speaker 1: also be coworkers. Men she met through work could become sources, acquaintances,
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  Speaker 1: or even romantic interest. Places she entered for research could
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  Speaker 1: be places where she had once earned money. And guys,
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  Speaker 1: that is a dangerous limbo to be in, okay? Just
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  Speaker 1: so you know, Susan wanted to be a serious writer, okay?
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: She enrolled in graduate studies at New York University and
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  Speaker 1: was working towards a master's degree. She pursued journalism, including
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  Speaker 1: work connected to the voice and research for the book,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Red Light Inside the Sex Industry. Sorry, guys, I'm getting alerts.
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  Speaker 1: on my phone, and I don't know why, but it's okay. Now,
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  Speaker 1: journalist James Ridgway regarded Susan as a valuable researcher. Her
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  Speaker 1: familiarity with clubs and dancers gave her access to people who,
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  Speaker 1: let's be honest, would not speak candidly with an outsider,
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  Speaker 1: especially one carrying a notebook. One of Susan's most significant
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  Speaker 1: assignments involved Russian immigrants and the sex industry in New York. Okay.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Reporting associated with the Village Voice examined allegations that Russian
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  Speaker 1: organized crime figures were involved in clubs where eminent immigrant
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  Speaker 1: women were exploited.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Guys, that's a big deal and it still happens today.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Okay. Susan also developed contacts in Brighton Beach and within
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: the club world, okay? That assignment later became one of
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  Speaker 1: the most famous theories surrounding her disappearance. Perhaps Susan had
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: learned too much, angered someone dangerous, and she had been silenced.
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  Speaker 1: And it is an irresistible theory because it comes prepackaged
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  Speaker 1: with menace and all of the tantalization that comes with it.
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  Speaker 1: The journalist investigates organized crime and then vanishes. Yeah, but
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: an intriguing narrative is not evidence. Susan did tell people
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  Speaker 1: that she was frightened and reporting said she expressed concern
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  Speaker 1: about Russian mobsters. Her father, however, questioned whether those fears
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: reflected an actual threat or particularly as he felt Susan's
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: alcohol and prescription drug use had returned. Police investigated the
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: organized crime possibility, but publicly there has been no evidence
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: that has ever shown that Russian mobsters abducted or killed Susan.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: So Laney says she must have come across something big
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: related to sex trafficking. That is a theory, but just wait, okay?
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Susan was also exploring another subculture that would generate even
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: louder headlines, okay? Even I got intrigued because people in
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: New York who identified with a vampire scene, okay? This
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: was not a supernatural investigation. Susan was interviewing and spending
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: time with people involved in a nightlife subculture built around
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: vampire imagery and identity. However, the Village Voice ultimately did
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: not publish the piece, and accounts from people involved with
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Susan's work suggested concerns that she had become too close
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: to the subject and that the reporting had lost the
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: necessary distance. Now, after Susan disappeared, the word vampire became
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: irresistible to the media. It offered an exotic explanation for
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: disappearance that otherwise had frustratingly little physical evidence. Okay, I mean,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: vampire subculture, Russian mobs, exotic dancers. I mean, that's a
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: trifecta of things, guys. Let's be honest, okay? Now, some
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: of Susan's, co-workers dismissed the idea that a vampire cult
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: had simply swallowed her. Karen Durbin called the angle tabloid nonsense,
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: just that fodder. However, police nevertheless had to examine the
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: people Susan had met because investigators could not ignore a
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: circle of contacts merely because the public framing sounded sensational. Because, guys,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: I was like, what? There's a vampire subculture? I didn't know.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: I also didn't know there was vampire cults. And now
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: that I've said that out loud, I can just see
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Llama typing away on her keyboard saying, uh-oh, another cult. Okay?
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: For us to look into. Okay? Now, while Susan's journalism
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: was becoming more ambitious, her personal life was becoming more unstable.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Her health was poor. And accounts from friends and missing
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: person records say Susan had recently been hospitalized for ulcers,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: and she told people she had emphysema. However, she smoked heavily.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: And friends also described her as having bipolar disorder. Back then,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: it was commonly called manic depression. And there were concerns
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: about her depression, alcohol, and medication. Now, those facts matter,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: but they require care because a mental health diagnosis does
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: not always explain a disappearance. And let's be honest, it
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: should never substitute for real evidence, okay? The same caution
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: applies to Susan's substance abuse. After approximately 11 years of sobriety,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: people close to her did believe she had begun drinking
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: again before she disappeared. And guys, if you're dealing with
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: addiction just because you get sober, for those of you
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: that don't know, it doesn't. You don't get sober. You're
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: not cured from it, okay? It's not like a common cold.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: It is something they have to deal with every day
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: for the rest of their lives, okay? Now, some accounts
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: that I found describe prescription medication misuse, particularly Xanax, and
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: a broader concern that other illegal drugs had returned to
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: her life. Now, reporters do say her father was deeply
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: worried that alcohol, medication, and illegal drugs were distorting her perceptions.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Friends say they saw signs that she was struggling. However,
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: if there was a relapse, it does not tell us
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: what happened to her. But we have to be honest,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: it undeniably changed the landscape investigators had to examine. Guys,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: they had to look into the Russian mobster connections, sex trafficking,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: the vampire subculture, and drug connections.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: Okay? Okay.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Because alcohol and drugs can increase vulnerability without making the
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: person using them responsible for what happens next if they're abducted.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: They can place someone around people they would not otherwise trust,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: make it harder for friends to distinguish a genuine threat
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: from a fear amplified by intoxication. It also creates opportunities
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: for accidental overdoses, and would make a sudden absence easier
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: for outsiders to dismiss, is just partying. In Susan's case,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: that last possibility became painfully real. Sandy Tolan later recalled
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: that when he contacted Nutley police after Susan vanished, a
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: detective initially responded in a way that suggested her work
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: as a dancer made her absence plausible. Really?
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: Does it?
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Does it? I mean, just because you dance as an
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: exotic dancer to make some money. What does that have
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: to do with the price of tea in China? When
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: you left your house, you left your son with your
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: estranged husband to go make a phone call at a payphone.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: How does that make it more plausible? I don't know,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: officer that took this. I don't know. Friends like me
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: push back. emphasizing that Susan was also a journalist and
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: a mother whose disappearance was out of character, okay? Susan
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: herself had spoke openly about the complicated reality of the
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: sex industry. Shortly before she vanished, she participated in filmmaker
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Jill Morley's documentary Project Stripped, which focused on women working
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: in the industry. The recordings preserve Susan's voice close to
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: the time of her disappearance. They reveal someone who understood
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: the contradictions, the money, the danger, the exhaustion, the desire
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: to move beyond dancing, and the difficulty of doing so
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: because the bills still kept arriving. The documentary material also
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: captured something ominous. Susan referred to having a stalker. And
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: she spoke about stalkers almost casually as though unwanted attention
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: had become an occupational hazard. Guys, as we learned over
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: on True Crime and Wine Time with the Robert Hansen case,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: stalkers are something to be taken serious. And if you
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: are an exotic dancer, or if you're a woman, let's
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: be honest, you have to be careful and you have
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: to take stalkers seriously. seriously, okay? Now, people around her
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: later disagreed about how seriously those claims should have been taken.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: They say Susan had made similar statements before, and at
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: least one person said she sometimes disappeared for a day
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: when she believed someone was pursuing her. So guys, she
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: thought someone was pursuing her, so she would like make
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: herself not easy to be followed. That sounds smart to me. OK,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: and if you hide for a day, doesn't mean you've disappeared. OK, now,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: police did investigate a man associated with stalking allegations, and
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: they did, you know, question him more than once. But
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: they say they determined he was not responsible for Susan's disappearance.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: So good job, police. I'm glad you did that part
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: of your job. OK, but that leaves an uncomfortable problem.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Susan had legitimate reasons to encounter dangerous or obsessive people
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: through dancing, journalism, relationship, or drug use. And she was
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: also experiencing circumstances that made people question whether every fear
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: she expressed reflected an actual external threat. But guys, both
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: things can be true at the same time. Okay? Okay?
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Investigators could not responsibly dismiss her warnings simply because Susan
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: was drinking, using medication, or struggling. Nor could they responsibly
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: assume every person Susan feared was actually trying to harm her.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: By July 1996, Susan appeared to be living at the
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: intersection of too many pressures. She was raising David. She
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: was separated from Mark. She was trying to finish graduate
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: school and she was trying to establish herself as a
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: serious writer. All while still dancing when she needed income. Okay.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Like we said, she had recently been involved in reporting
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: that placed her among people connected to organized crime allegations
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: and that underground nightlife. Hey guys, that puts you in
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: harm's way and puts you in a riskier lifestyle. Her
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: physical health was deteriorating. Her sobriety, they believe, had fractured.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: They didn't have proof, but they believed. And friends were
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: worried about her emotional state, okay? Then came the weekend
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: before she disappeared. Sandy Tolan, who was working with Susan,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: last saw her on July 12th. On July 13th, Susan
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: worked at the show place from approximately 5.30 in the
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: evening to about 1.45 in the mornings. On July 14th,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: she participated in the documentary discussion for Strip. And just
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: two days later, she was gone. Okay. Now, on that Tuesday,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: July 16th, Susan was at the apartment complex on Washington
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Street in Nutley. Now, accounts do differ slightly on exactly
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: what she said she intended to do.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: But the central facts are the same.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: Okay. Okay.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: And I do believe that is important.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Okay. Now, oh, my goodness. My whole screen just went
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: totally black again. Okay. So that's okay. We're going to,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: it just came back, but it moved everything. But like
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: I said, the central facts are consistent. Susan left David
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: with Mark. and stepped away from the building around midday. Now,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: some say she was going to make a telephone call
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: at a payphone, okay, and reported, you know, she was
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: going to come back quickly, within like half an hour.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: Others reports say she was going out. It was midday.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: Whatever the reason she left, she didn't prepare for a
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: long journey, okay? She left her wallet behind, her pager Guys,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: she left her medication and her cigarettes. And she was
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: a heavy cigarette person, okay? You can't tell me someone
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: who smokes several packs a day is going to leave
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: that behind with your wallet because how are you going
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: to buy more? Okay? And I mean, and if you're
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: going to disappear voluntarily, you would take your money, your ID,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: your cigarettes, your pager. You would take all that stuff, okay?
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: Okay?
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: However, Susan vanished without leaving investigators a clear scene to
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: investigate because there was no publicly identified location where police
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: could say maybe a crime occurred. There was no body.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: There was no blood. There was no evidence. There was
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: no confirmed witness who came forward to describe an abduction.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: There was also no vehicle known for her to get
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: into and leave. This was simply a woman who walked
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: out and failed to return. So Lainey says she wouldn't
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: have gone out to use a payphone without her smokes. Well,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: I don't know because I'm not a smoker. My thought
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: would be if you're running out to use a payphone,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: you'd take a quarter if you think you're just calling
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: to come right back and you're not going to be
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: long a couple of minutes. They say the payphone was
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: like right across the street. I don't know because I'm
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: not a smoker. Oh, you were. Okay. So I don't know. Now,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: her friends and family noticed quickly that something was wrong. Okay.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: She didn't return home. But by the afternoon, her friend
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Melissa Hines had a bad feeling. And she went to
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Susan's apartment. Okay. And in the documentary, The American Life,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Melissa described ringing the bell and feeling an immediate emptiness.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: when nobody answered. That instinct would become the beginning of
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: a search that to this day has never reached a conclusion. Okay,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: so Lainey says you wouldn't go outside with smoking, period. Okay, see,
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: as someone who's not a smoker, I don't know that.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: So I find interesting. Okay, wait, I'm going to save
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: that for the end because I have another theory and
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: I want to save it till the end. Now, the
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: early police response later drew criticism, as we know it
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: often does.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Oh, okay.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Sorry, guess is.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: Chewing on my feet. But because Susan was an.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: Adult, had a history of disappearing for the day, worked
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: as a dancer, was struggling with substance abuse, and that
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: she was investigating things that maybe became dark for her.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: that the possibility that she had simply gone off received
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: heavy weight. So she left her apartment, left David with
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: her estranged husband who lived down below. He says she
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: told him she was running across the street to make
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: a quick phone call and she would be right back.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: So that is what we know about that. You know,
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: we know basically that she left David. She left her belongings. Okay.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: And she had work and school. And people were expecting her.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: And when she didn't, you know, arrive or show up,
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: it made it very serious to them. Nutley police eventually
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: launched a much larger investigations. Now, the Texas interviewed friends, relatives, co-workers.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: other dancers, journalists, romantic contacts, and the people that Susan
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: had encountered through her reporting. They checked, you know, reported sightings.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: They never turned out to be her. They examined the
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: stalking claims. They considered whether organized crime was involved. They
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: also looked at the vampire community. They said they also
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: looked at the possibility of an accidental overdose and even
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: considered suicide. But those two theories didn't hold much weight
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: because her body also was not found. OK, now mark up.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: There we go. So there goes Lainey.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: She says she never left that house alive. Why would
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: she go outside her home to make a phone call?
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: David says she did not have a phone in her apartment.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it's because she didn't have the money,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: and that's why they said she always had her pager
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: with her, and she kept quarters. Mark was inevitably part
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: of the scrutiny because he was Susan's estranged husband. He
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: lived in the same building, and he was with David
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: when Susan disappeared. Now, police have publicly indicated that they
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: do not have any evidence implicating him. Now, there have
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: been reports... that have raised questions about the extent of
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: forensic access investigators had to the residence. However, no criminal
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: charge has ever been filed against Mark in connection with
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: Susan's disappearance because sadly proximity is not proof. Okay. What
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: we do know is that the building where Susan was
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: last known to be is also the place from which
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: investigators had to try to reconstruct every possible route she took.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: had taken. Now, maybe it's because I've been in the
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: true crime world a long time, but I tried to
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: find more information about a strange hubby, Mark, because the
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: husband most of the time did it, where I come
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: from over in the true crime world. But she also
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: lived a very risky lifestyle, which makes that harder to
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: look at. Okay. Okay. Now, the voluntary disappearance theory remained
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: the position voiced by detectives in the months after Susan vanished. Yep,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: they said she left on her own, okay? In December
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: of 1996, detectives told her friend Sandy that they believed
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: Susan was alive and had chosen not to return home
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: because their interviews had produced no concrete evidence that something
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: had happened to her. Seriously, officers? Just because you didn't
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: find any evidence, you say you think she took off.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: I could not find if they ever looked inside Mark's apartment.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: Or did they just decide because he's at home with
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: the kid that he didn't do anything? How do we
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: know he didn't sit David in front of the TV
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: and go inside her apartment? She lived just right above.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying he did, but I wished I could
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: have found more information. telling me police looked hard at that.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: I couldn't find it. Okay, guys, I even went back
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: into some of the archives. I couldn't find anything. Now,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: detectives did, you know, investigate reports that she had been
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: seen street walking in Newark, dancing in clubs in New Jersey,
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: and living elsewhere. But all of those sightings were not her. Okay,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: they were not her. And the theory also collided with
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: Susan's relationship with David. Okay. Friends said they could imagine
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: Susan running from a dangerous man, a debt, a relapse
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: or frightening situation for a short time. They said they
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: cannot fathom or even imagine her choosing to leave her
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: son and being permanent silence for over three decades because
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: years pass without a birthday call. letters, a secret message
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: through a friend, any verified sighting, okay? Or any tiny
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: little human mistake that often exposes that someone has deliberately
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: wanted to start over. It's not been there, okay? And
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: that leads us to believe or leads me to believe
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: something happened, okay? And then, like I said, there's that
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: possibility of an accidental overdose. Something Friends and family said
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: that was maybe plausible because of the relapse. But where
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: is her body? They want to know where is her body. Okay.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: The only other theory they said maybe she OD'd and
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: somebody got rid of her body. Well, guys, come on.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: That's a lot harder to do than you think it is. Okay. Now,
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: the stalker theory carried its own troubling weight. Because Susan
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: had spoken about being followed. And the documentary footage showed
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: that that subject was on her mind just days before
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: she vanished. Okay? Like I said, police looked at that
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: one man that they thought could have been her stalker
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: and they eliminated him. Okay? But we've got to look
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: at the broader possibility that someone Susan knew had become
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: obsessed with her. It was harder to eliminate completely. Okay?
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: Exotic dancing. Journalism. And her personal life brought many people
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: into her orbit. And we cannot forget the Russian organized
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: crime theory. Because that one most likely dominates a headline.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: Because she had reported on exploitation within the club industry
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: and cultivated contacts in Brighton Beach. She told people she
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: was afraid because she exposed some things. Her disappearance came
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: at a time when she was moving through worlds where
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: Intimidation and violence were not imaginary concepts. Guys, mob, mafia,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: organized crime, they're not going to find her, okay? But
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: investigators have never publicly said that there was any evidence
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: tying her disappearance to any organized crime, okay? They say
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: it just didn't happen. That vampire theory is even more fragile. OK,
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: because Susan had spent time with people in New York's
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: vampire subculture. Right. But let's be honest. The mere fact
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: that a subculture appears strange to us does not make
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: its members murderers. It doesn't. OK, but it does make
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: it something great for the tabloids. OK, so let's let's
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: be honest there. Susan's life before she vanished. It makes
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: this case difficult because there is so many directions to investigate.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: And if police focus on the mob, perhaps they risk
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: overlooking someone close to her. If they focused on substance use,
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: perhaps they risk dismissing a genuine threat. Okay. And then
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: in my opinion, if they assume she left voluntarily, that
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: where did she go? Same thing about the vampire story. Now,
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: the case received national attention. Susan's disappearance appeared on Unsolved
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: Mysteries in 1997, exposing millions of viewers to the unusual
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: collision of journalism, strip clubs, organized crime allegations, and the
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: vampire subculture. Okay. That attention did generate tips and alleged sightings,
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: but publicly nothing that they have released led to Susan. Okay.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: The woman at the center of the story remains absence.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: And guys, we have to stop and think, okay? Years
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: passed and the investigation lost momentum. They say tips still,
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: you know, arrived every now and then, but nothing. Susan's
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: family continued to question what had been done and what
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: remained hidden in the police file. Her half-brother, Arthur Mergent,
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: eventually turned that frustration into a legal fight to access,
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: to gain access to guarding the investigation. which I think
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: after a certain period of time, the family is entitled
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: to those case files. That is me. I think that's
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: the case. In 2020, Arthur sued the Nutley Police Department
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: seeking records related to Susan's disappearance. The department argued that
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: records should remain protected because the case was an active investigation,
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: even though they weren't actively working on it. Okay, come on.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: The dispute forced a court to examine not the colorful
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: theories surrounding Susan, but what police had actually been doing
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: with the case decades later. In February of 2022, Superior
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: Court Judge Bridget Stetcher ordered significant portions of their records released. Yes!
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: This ruling was important because the judge concluded, that police
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: were not actively investigating Susan's disappearance in the sense that
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: the department had claimed. Just because a case file is
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: still open doesn't mean they actively have people touching it. Okay,
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: not even weekly, monthly, no. The court described a file
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: that remained open as a missing person, but found that
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: much of the later activity consisted of receiving and following
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: occasional tips rather than ongoing proactive investigation. And guys, that
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: happens to a lot of missing person cases. And that
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: is why I believe if the police cannot prove they
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: are actively working on a case, they do not get
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: to keep the file closed, okay? Susan remains missing. Her
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: disappearance is unsolved, okay? At the 30th anniversary of Susan's disappearance,
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: Interest in her case continued. Friends, families, journalists, and true
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: crime researchers kept revisiting the same July afternoon. And as
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: of today, I found no credible report that Susan Walsh
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: has been located alive, deceased, and current missing person. Cases
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: continued to listing her as missing. She was 36 when
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: she disappeared. At that time, she was five feet, six
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: inches tall, weighed around 110 pounds with bleach blonde hair,
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: blue eyes. She had pierced ears and a scar on
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: her right wrist. She was reportedly wearing a gold ring
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: with a black stone. And she spoke with a pronounced
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: New Jersey accent. If Susan were alive today, she would
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: be 66 years old.
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: Now, a lot of people are going to say her
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: dancing should have been sanitized out of this story. I
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: didn't because it matters. It paid the bills. It helped
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: her with her reporting. Just because you're an exotic dancer
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: doesn't mean you're a bad person. It was a job
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: to pay the bills. Okay, guys? And that's something I
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: want everyone to remember. Okay? Because for David, for Arthur,
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: the other friends and family who heard Susan talk about
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: fear and ambition and frustration, only days before she vanished,
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: there is not, as of today, a clean ending. So
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: if you know something about Susan's disappearance, even if it
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: is something you dismissed decades ago because it seemed too small,
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: or if you were scared to tell, please come forward.
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: You can always send an anonymous tip to fbi.gov backslash tips, okay?
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: And if you know anything, please contact the Nutley Police
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: Department at 201-284-4940. Because 30 years later, she deserves more
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: than sensational theories. She deserves an answer. And so does
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: her son, David, and her family. Oh, guys, that was
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: a tough one. Okay. Now, If you know someone who
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: is missing or one of your loved ones is missing
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: and you think their story needs more attention, please email me, terri,
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: at tcwtmedia.com, or you can reach out through any of
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: our social media accounts. And also, this poster on my
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: screen right now, you want to head over to our
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: Midday Missing Facebook page.
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: This is posted there.
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: I also post other missing person posters that have been verified.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: But for those of you not on the book face,
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: I also have these dropping on my Terry True Crime
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: social media accounts so that you can still help by
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: sharing them and getting these faces and names in front
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: of more people, okay? Also, be sure to follow us
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: across social media to stay connected, receive updates, and also
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: help us continue spreading awareness. Okay, guys? And don't forget
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: that tomorrow night Lama and I will be back on
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: True Crime and Wine Time at 8 p.m. Eastern. And
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: we are going back to Knoxville, Tennessee for part two
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: of our deep dive into Krista Pike. It's going to
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: be like a 20 episode series. Okay. And we're going
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: to pick up where we left off getting to know
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: Krista Pike because there's a lot to know about her.
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: There's a lot to.
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: Know about Colleen and there's a lot to know about
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: all of it.
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: Okay. And if you haven't become a member of our
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: YouTube channel, you really should. And you're probably wondering why.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: And I know it's pronounced Knoxville. See, I wanted to
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: see if you were listening, Lady Ingrity. But I have
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: so many.
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: People say, it's Knoxville.
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: No, it's Knoxville. I know that, but I'm trying to
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: please everyone, okay? But all you got to do is
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: click that Join button to become a member now. It
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: helps support the channel and TCWT Media, all of our
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: channels and our shows.
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: And we have exclusive content. Okay? Now, guys, until next time,
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: please stay safe. Stay aware. If you see something, say something.
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: And let's help these families bring their loved ones home. Bye, guys.