Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Distraught mom: 'This is no accident! My son was murdered!'
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Hi, Nancy Grace. Here is chronic daily pain destroying your
- 0:03Speaker 1: sleep and quality of life like it has for my mom.
- 0:06Speaker 1: If you suffer from nagging, moderate to severe pain, I've
- 0:10Speaker 1: got a discovery you should try Quell. It's an FDA
- 0:13Speaker 1: cleared breakthrough wearable technology developed by doctor's Quell was shown
- 0:17Speaker 1: to relieve chronic pain in multiple studies. It works by
- 0:21Speaker 1: helping turn down the volume of pain by triggering your
- 0:23Speaker 1: body's natural pain blockers. It's like a volume control between
- 0:27Speaker 1: your pain and your brain. Quell one percent drug free,
- 0:31Speaker 1: easy to use, no prescription required, and it can be
- 0:34Speaker 1: used while sleeping. With almost two hundred thousand devices sold,
- 0:38Speaker 1: Quell is designed for anyone's suffering with a wide range
- 0:42Speaker 1: of pain. If you suffer from daily, challenging pain, I
- 0:46Speaker 1: urge you to try Quell risk free sixty days. If
- 0:49Speaker 1: you're not thrilled, return it for a refund. Go to
- 0:51Speaker 1: Quell radio dot com inner promo code Nancy for thirty
- 0:55Speaker 1: dollars off a starter kit Quell q U e LLL
- 0:59Speaker 1: Quell radio dot com. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Parents
- 1:12Speaker 1: of a twenty three year old who was found dead
- 1:14Speaker 1: in Gylsburg say they have never gotten the full story
- 1:18Speaker 1: of how he died killed. A QC. Sarah Jones was
- 1:21Speaker 1: at Gilsburg City halled tonight as Tyler Smith's parents pressed
- 1:26Speaker 1: for answers. Sarah. Tyler Smith wanted to become a cop,
- 1:30Speaker 1: and according to his parents, the same group of people
- 1:32Speaker 1: he wanted to join, have failed to provide answers. September
- 1:36Speaker 1: twelfth marked his mother's birthday. Tyler's was the next day,
- 1:39Speaker 1: and the fourteenth was the last time he was seen
- 1:42Speaker 1: in the fifteenth was when his parents say they learned
- 1:44Speaker 1: he was dead. They say they received a lot of
- 1:47Speaker 1: conflicting information and that a preliminary autopsy report says he
- 1:51Speaker 1: drowned in three inches of water. TV six has not
- 1:54Speaker 1: yet been able to view the autopsy report. Tyler's parents
- 1:58Speaker 1: accused Gilsburg police of miss handling the investigation. Earlier this week,
- 2:02Speaker 1: Galsburg police told TV six they're doing everything they can.
- 2:06Speaker 1: I saw pictures of my son from that night. He
- 2:09Speaker 1: had injuries to me, and he looked like he had
- 2:11Speaker 1: been in a fight. I was told that by police
- 2:14Speaker 1: that they believed that his injuries were from possible dcomp
- 2:17Speaker 1: due to possibly being out there dead for several hours.
- 2:20Speaker 1: I have to disagree, as the autopsy report stays there
- 2:23Speaker 1: are no signs of external decomp How did this beautiful,
- 2:28Speaker 1: brilliant boy with his wife in front of him? Tyler Smith?
- 2:33Speaker 1: How do you drown a grown man? Essentially, he's no boy,
- 2:38Speaker 1: he's a grown man, but he's his mom was a
- 2:40Speaker 1: little boy forever like mine. How do you drown in
- 2:43Speaker 1: three inches of water? So many questions left unanswered? I
- 2:49Speaker 1: want the truth. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.
- 2:53Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us. With me two very
- 2:55Speaker 1: very special guests, the mother and father of Tyler Smith.
- 3:02Speaker 1: First to John Linley, Crime online dot Com investigative reporter
- 3:05Speaker 1: John what happened? As we'll hear more from his parents
- 3:08Speaker 1: in just a moment. Tyler had recently he was in
- 3:11Speaker 1: the process of making a move from Rochelle, Illinois to
- 3:15Speaker 1: Conquered California to begin training as a cadet in the
- 3:19Speaker 1: police academy there. He had one last remaining drill to
- 3:23Speaker 1: do with the Illinois Army National Guard in Macon, Illinois,
- 3:27Speaker 1: so he thought he'd use the opportunity to catch up
- 3:30Speaker 1: with some of his favorite people in nearby Gaylsburg. This
- 3:34Speaker 1: is about three hours southwest of Chicago. His plan was
- 3:38Speaker 1: to stay overnight with a friend and head to the
- 3:41Speaker 1: guard Drill The next morning. Tyler Smith announced his arrival
- 3:45Speaker 1: in Gaylsburg with great fanfare with a text about six
- 3:50Speaker 1: o three pm. This is Friday, September fourteenth. The text
- 3:54Speaker 1: simply said, I'm here now. Over the next few hours,
- 3:58Speaker 1: Tyler and a couple of friends first grabbed a bite
- 4:01Speaker 1: of dinner, then did a bit of bar hopping around
- 4:03Speaker 1: the area. According to information given to the Galesburg Police Department,
- 4:07Speaker 1: at roughly eleven thirty five pm, the three of them
- 4:11Speaker 1: head to their vehicles, Tyler walking with one of the
- 4:14Speaker 1: friends to his car. From that point on, the mystery
- 4:19Speaker 1: of what happens to Tyler really deepens. There is an
- 4:22Speaker 1: odd series of calls and texts to one of his
- 4:25Speaker 1: friends and another buddy in Makeum. At eleven forty six pm,
- 4:31Speaker 1: Tyler sends a Snapchat message to yet another friend saying
- 4:35Speaker 1: I don't know where I am and that's the last
- 4:39Speaker 1: that anyone heard from Tyler. All that together sounds very
- 4:44Speaker 1: very suspicious to me. A text I don't know where
- 4:47Speaker 1: I am joining me. In addition to John Limley, Crime
- 4:51Speaker 1: online dot Com investigative reporter judge lawyer Ashley Wilcott with
- 4:56Speaker 1: a young son of her own too. As a matter
- 4:58Speaker 1: of fact, Cheryl McCollum, director of the Coal Case Research Institute,
- 5:02Speaker 1: also with a son, doctor Michelle Dupre medical examiner, and boy,
- 5:06Speaker 1: do we need a medical examiner today? To Cheryl mcallum,
- 5:10Speaker 1: director of the Coalcase Research Institute, before I go to
- 5:13Speaker 1: Tyler's parents, Sandy and Keith, I want your take on this.
- 5:17Speaker 1: First of all, Nancy, could he swim? Second of all,
- 5:21Speaker 1: you're talking about three inches of water with a no injury.
- 5:25Speaker 1: Then did he have some type of drug in his
- 5:27Speaker 1: system like GHB or something? And then the other question
- 5:31Speaker 1: that I have is at you know, eleven thirty five,
- 5:34Speaker 1: he's walking with a print that he's going to stay
- 5:37Speaker 1: with places to stay, and by eleven forty six he's
- 5:40Speaker 1: completely lost and doesn't know where he is. I questioned
- 5:44Speaker 1: what he sent those last text messages. Well, I questioned
- 5:47Speaker 1: the text message about I don't know where I am.
- 5:51Speaker 1: I don't know where I am. Guys, this is a guy.
- 5:55Speaker 1: I want to call him a boy because he's standing
- 5:58Speaker 1: his son, but this is on his way to being
- 6:02Speaker 1: a grown man. Out of five thousand candidates five thousand candidates,
- 6:08Speaker 1: only fifty were picked for the San Jose Police Academy,
- 6:13Speaker 1: and he was one of the fifty. I'm not really
- 6:17Speaker 1: buying that he drowned in three inches of water, and
- 6:22Speaker 1: I am not buying that injuries on his body were
- 6:27Speaker 1: caused by decomposition when he had only been there a
- 6:30Speaker 1: couple of hours. I don't believe that. I've never seen
- 6:34Speaker 1: a case like that in all of my history, where
- 6:37Speaker 1: a body begins to decompose in just a couple of hours.
- 6:42Speaker 1: And to add more mystery to this, listener, see's every
- 6:47Speaker 1: time I asked to have these checklate video footage cameras,
- 6:49Speaker 1: I get, I guess, so, or what's that going to
- 6:51Speaker 1: tell us? The only evidence they do have is what
- 6:54Speaker 1: I have provided to them. For example, I've provided ATM info,
- 6:58Speaker 1: which that would show Tyler using ATM on a video.
- 7:01Speaker 1: We were told then that when they received the video
- 7:04Speaker 1: that the detective watched it from beginning to end several
- 7:06Speaker 1: times and Tyler was not on that footage. I asked
- 7:09Speaker 1: the direct detective to contact Rolls Fargo again and he did,
- 7:13Speaker 1: and he said it would be December. Fore we got
- 7:15Speaker 1: another video due to they thought we had the wrong
- 7:17Speaker 1: footage from the wrong bank. I questioned getting the wrong
- 7:20Speaker 1: footage and drove two hours to drive to Galesburg on
- 7:23Speaker 1: November twelfth, where I met with a sergeant where he
- 7:25Speaker 1: said he would prove the footage was not from the
- 7:27Speaker 1: wrong bank and it was from the wrong time. I
- 7:30Speaker 1: was told Tyler was not on the video. The sergeant
- 7:32Speaker 1: put the video into play and as we were discussing
- 7:35Speaker 1: it in the correct we were discussing it to see
- 7:39Speaker 1: if it was the correct bank on the video, he stated,
- 7:41Speaker 1: what the f do you want from me? Your sun drowned.
- 7:44Speaker 1: Right after that, he said, Tyler and the two individuals
- 7:47Speaker 1: he showed up on the ATM video. This is the
- 7:50Speaker 1: original ATM video that we were told he was not
- 7:52Speaker 1: on on the exact time he was supposed to show
- 7:54Speaker 1: up for two minutes and twenty one seconds. This leads
- 7:57Speaker 1: me to wonder did the detective even watch the video
- 7:59Speaker 1: and he did, how was he not able to see
- 8:01Speaker 1: Tyler on the video? I have I have ever been
- 8:06Speaker 1: asked if I was here. I have also been asked
- 8:08Speaker 1: if I was if I was here for the first
- 8:10Speaker 1: six days Tyler died to check any videos myself. My
- 8:13Speaker 1: response was I was planning a funeral for my son,
- 8:16Speaker 1: but I would have been here if I would have
- 8:17Speaker 1: known that you guys weren't checking the videos. Wow, you
- 8:21Speaker 1: are hearing Tyler's mom, Sandy Halseney with me, Sandy and Keith,
- 8:26Speaker 1: mother and father of Tyler Smith. If my son allegedly
- 8:30Speaker 1: drowned in three inches of water, I would be on
- 8:33Speaker 1: the rampage. Sandy, Keith, thank you for being with us.
- 8:37Speaker 1: First to you, Sandy, did you see Tyler on the
- 8:42Speaker 1: ATM video footage? I did. It was the original ATM
- 8:48Speaker 1: video that we were told he was not on, and
- 8:52Speaker 1: I had questioned, there's absolutely no way that he could
- 8:56Speaker 1: not be on it because I had a receipt email
- 8:58Speaker 1: to me. He had an email receipt when he took
- 9:01Speaker 1: the money out of the ATM, which was about an hour,
- 9:04Speaker 1: but it was ten forty two pm, and they were
- 9:08Speaker 1: telling me that it was the wrong footage from the
- 9:10Speaker 1: wrong bank, and I supple, then you need to call
- 9:11Speaker 1: well Targo, because you know, I have an exact account number,
- 9:15Speaker 1: I have an exact transaction number, I have an exact time.
- 9:18Speaker 1: I even went down to the bank to see if
- 9:20Speaker 1: the time was correct, which they didn't do either. But
- 9:23Speaker 1: I did that myself just to see, you know, oh,
- 9:26Speaker 1: maybe the time's wrong. There was twenty minutes of footage
- 9:29Speaker 1: and he is on that, and he shows up there
- 9:31Speaker 1: for twenty two minutes and twenty one seconds at ten
- 9:34Speaker 1: forty two pm, exactly at the time he's supposed to
- 9:37Speaker 1: show up. This is on the original ATM video, which
- 9:39Speaker 1: was in their possession for at least three weeks before
- 9:43Speaker 1: I started to question, Okay, what's going on here, you know,
- 9:47Speaker 1: why are things not being done? And then after that
- 9:49Speaker 1: point when I found Tyler he was on that video
- 9:53Speaker 1: is when we decided, okay, nothing was done. We've been
- 9:57Speaker 1: lied to, and what else have you lied to? Sandy
- 10:00Speaker 1: Holzeney Keith Smith, the mother and father of Tyler Smith. Sandy,
- 10:04Speaker 1: when you observed him on the ATM video, how did
- 10:08Speaker 1: he look? What was his demeanor? He looked fine. I mean,
- 10:11Speaker 1: he looked he had no problem getting the money out.
- 10:14Speaker 1: We noticed, We did notice he had cash on him
- 10:18Speaker 1: at the ATM, he had a money clip. We questioned
- 10:21Speaker 1: why he took one hundred dollars out and why he
- 10:24Speaker 1: used his depa card at the last bar he went to,
- 10:28Speaker 1: and what happened to his money because he didn't have
- 10:30Speaker 1: all that money on him when he was found. He
- 10:32Speaker 1: only had seventy two dollars of it. But he looked fine,
- 10:35Speaker 1: his demeanor looked fine. He was you know, you could
- 10:38Speaker 1: tell he had been drinking, but he was not stumbling.
- 10:41Speaker 1: He was walking fine. He was able to use the ATM. Sandy.
- 10:45Speaker 1: Did he have any bruises, lacerations, or anything on his
- 10:49Speaker 1: face or body that you could see, Yes, not on
- 10:52Speaker 1: the ATM video. No, So then no, he did not.
- 10:56Speaker 1: And you're telling me you observed a money clip in
- 10:59Speaker 1: his hand with cash in it, and he took out
- 11:02Speaker 1: an additional one hundred dollars, but when he was found
- 11:05Speaker 1: he did not have that amount on him. Is that correct?
- 11:08Speaker 1: That is correct. You know, we just won't just want
- 11:12Speaker 1: a timeline we might have, not trying to point fingers.
- 11:14Speaker 1: We just want answers. He deserves war everybody, anybody deserves.
- 11:22Speaker 1: It's just a little effort. The city appreciates Tyler's parents
- 11:26Speaker 1: coming in to speak to the CRC. As they outlined,
- 11:30Speaker 1: they don't have jurisdiction over this type of case. They're
- 11:32Speaker 1: limited in what types of cases they can investigate. However,
- 11:35Speaker 1: at the same time, we have received a formal complaint
- 11:38Speaker 1: from Tyler's parents. At that time, the city manager initiated
- 11:42Speaker 1: an investigation that will be a joint police and city
- 11:45Speaker 1: administration investigation. That investigation is ongoing, but when it is completed,
- 11:51Speaker 1: we've looked at the allegations, we will release the results
- 11:54Speaker 1: of that to the City Council as well as to
- 11:56Speaker 1: the media. Next week, we'll be meeting with Tyler's parents
- 11:59Speaker 1: to learn more about their experience and their allegations, and
- 12:03Speaker 1: we're hopeful to move on from that point. Tyler's parents
- 12:06Speaker 1: say they understand that this is outside the Commission's jurisdiction,
- 12:10Speaker 1: and the city council referred them to the state, and
- 12:12Speaker 1: Tyler's family says they're not giving up. You're hearing from
- 12:15Speaker 1: our Friddick k WQCTV Sarah Jones. You also heard Tyler's dad,
- 12:21Speaker 1: Keith Smith, who was with us right now with me,
- 12:25Speaker 1: Sandy Halsney and Keith Smith, the father and mother of Tyler.
- 12:29Speaker 1: Doctor Michelle Dupree, medical examiner and author of homicide Investigation
- 12:36Speaker 1: Field Guide, Cheryl Mcallum, director of the Cold Case Research Institute,
- 12:39Speaker 1: Ashley Wilcot, judge and lawyer, and Crime online dot Com
- 12:43Speaker 1: investigative reporter John Lemley to doctor Michelle Dupree. Bodies do
- 12:50Speaker 1: not start to decompose in an hour or two to
- 12:54Speaker 1: where it looks like physical injuries like bruises. That doesn't
- 13:00Speaker 1: happen that quickly. That's true, Nancy, it does not, and
- 13:03Speaker 1: I wonder if it's not just maybe a misinterpretation of
- 13:06Speaker 1: an injury that did occur. One thing I'd like to
- 13:09Speaker 1: point out is that, as you know, drowning is a
- 13:12Speaker 1: diagnosis of exclusion, and what that means is we must
- 13:16Speaker 1: rule out everything else, everything else to be the cause
- 13:20Speaker 1: of death. We need a toxicology report, we need any
- 13:23Speaker 1: signs of trauma or injury that would be significant enough
- 13:25Speaker 1: to cause the death. And so I'm thinking that one
- 13:29Speaker 1: of the concerns is him having drowned in three inches
- 13:32Speaker 1: of water. That is entirely possible, but we still need
- 13:35Speaker 1: to make sure that the actual cause of death is drowning.
- 13:38Speaker 1: Otherwise we have other things that we need to rule out.
- 13:41Speaker 1: But you're absolutely right on those postmortem changes or the
- 13:44Speaker 1: decomposition way too soon. Well, to me, if he was
- 13:47Speaker 1: in three inches of water, he could have just turned
- 13:49Speaker 1: over unless he was knocked out or beaten and I
- 13:53Speaker 1: want to point out that what we have discovered is
- 13:57Speaker 1: that it appears he was either beaten or hit by
- 14:00Speaker 1: some type of vehicle before ending up in the creek
- 14:05Speaker 1: in Cedar Fort. And I'm basing that on post mortem
- 14:10Speaker 1: photos of Tyler Smith that showed bruising along his body
- 14:16Speaker 1: and more facial injuries. I'm very, very concerned about the
- 14:21Speaker 1: cause of death, very concerned. Doctor Michelle Dupree to all
- 14:26Speaker 1: of us a Luddites, explain how it is determined that
- 14:29Speaker 1: someone has drowned, And again, drowning is that diagnosis of exclusion?
- 14:34Speaker 1: We must rule out any kind of blunt trauma, accidental
- 14:37Speaker 1: or otherwise. We must rule out toxicology as a cause
- 14:40Speaker 1: of death. It is possible to drown in three inches
- 14:43Speaker 1: of water, But why why could he not? As you
- 14:46Speaker 1: said turnover? Was he abtunded in some way? Was he
- 14:49Speaker 1: sedated in some way? You know what is the reason
- 14:52Speaker 1: for that? There are also two types of drowning, as
- 14:55Speaker 1: you know, wet drowning and dry drowning. Did he have
- 14:57Speaker 1: a l ringo spasm so there would be very little
- 14:59Speaker 1: water in his lung? Those are the kind of things
- 15:02Speaker 1: that we must look at in an autopsy to determine
- 15:05Speaker 1: and to be able to actually say that drowning was
- 15:08Speaker 1: the cause of death, and I'm not sure that we
- 15:09Speaker 1: have it in this case. It's my understanding back to
- 15:12Speaker 1: Sandy Halsney and her husband Keith Smith, the mother and
- 15:15Speaker 1: father of Tyler, that through investigation, you guys uncovered videotape
- 15:22Speaker 1: images of Tyler walking along West Street just four minutes
- 15:28Speaker 1: before his cell phone stops registering activity. That would be
- 15:33Speaker 1: around eleven fifty two PM that Friday night. Okay, he
- 15:38Speaker 1: walks north past the case. He's on the corner of
- 15:40Speaker 1: West and West Main Street in the direction of the
- 15:43Speaker 1: BNSF tracks and the Cedar Fork body of water. So
- 15:49Speaker 1: you have him alive on video at ten forty two
- 15:54Speaker 1: at the ATM and about two hours later at eleven
- 15:58Speaker 1: fifty two walking past Casey's. Is that correct, Keith Smith, Yes,
- 16:06Speaker 1: it is. What type of video is this, Sandy Halsney.
- 16:09Speaker 1: It is a video that we can see Tyler walking
- 16:14Speaker 1: in the distance. We were told this video was checked
- 16:17Speaker 1: and that he wasn't on it, and we have done
- 16:20Speaker 1: our own investigation basically for the last four to five months,
- 16:25Speaker 1: and I was able to find the video there at
- 16:29Speaker 1: Casey's and check it myself. And that's when I saw
- 16:33Speaker 1: him walking. He's walking very fast, He's walking like he's
- 16:37Speaker 1: to me as his mother. I can tell he seems
- 16:40Speaker 1: like he's upset or angry or he's on a mission.
- 16:44Speaker 1: And you know, as he walks by, it's about eleven
- 16:49Speaker 1: forty eight, and then at eleven fifty two he his
- 16:54Speaker 1: health app on his phone says he stops moving. Wow. Okay,
- 16:58Speaker 1: let me ask you a question. This is from my building.
- 17:01Speaker 1: They're on West Street. I think, how did you manage
- 17:04Speaker 1: to get that video where the cops didn't get it?
- 17:06Speaker 1: I don't know. I presented it to him in my
- 17:10Speaker 1: formal complaint. I Before I presented it to him, they said,
- 17:14Speaker 1: you know, I went over and I said, you told
- 17:16Speaker 1: me you checked this camera and that was a lie.
- 17:18Speaker 1: You checked this camera and that was why you checked
- 17:20Speaker 1: this video, and this was a lie. And I went
- 17:22Speaker 1: through all the videos that I was told it was
- 17:24Speaker 1: checked and confirmed with him. You guys checked the Casey's video, correct,
- 17:27Speaker 1: And they said, yes, yes, we checked that. And I said, well,
- 17:29Speaker 1: I have the Casey's video with me, and Tyler is
- 17:32Speaker 1: on it and he's walking and he's you can't see
- 17:35Speaker 1: his face, so you can't see if he had been
- 17:37Speaker 1: in a fight prior, but you can tell it to
- 17:39Speaker 1: him and it's definitely him. There is another video about
- 17:44Speaker 1: a block down that we were told which would basically
- 17:48Speaker 1: tell us if he continued to walk on his own,
- 17:52Speaker 1: if he had turned on a cross street called Ferris Street,
- 17:56Speaker 1: if he had any any interaction with the police car
- 17:59Speaker 1: that fo him down that road, as well as another
- 18:01Speaker 1: vehicle that falls him down that road. And we were
- 18:04Speaker 1: told that that was only good for the weekend. I
- 18:07Speaker 1: noticed it right away, within about ten days after Tyler died.
- 18:11Speaker 1: I was told, Oh, they just have Oh they just
- 18:14Speaker 1: have signs up just to scare people. I said, but
- 18:16Speaker 1: did you check. Oh, well, we'll check, we'll check. Well.
- 18:20Speaker 1: Two months later I find out from the owner. After
- 18:24Speaker 1: we found out they lied about him being on the
- 18:26Speaker 1: ATM video, is when we decided that, okay, something's not
- 18:29Speaker 1: right here. We went down to that owner and he
- 18:32Speaker 1: said nobody had been down here to check their footage
- 18:34Speaker 1: and it was good for a week, and that would
- 18:37Speaker 1: have basically given us our information at least where he went. Yeah,
- 18:42Speaker 1: you know, just Cheryl mccullin's right to the Cold Case
- 18:44Speaker 1: Research Institute. That's exactly what happened in the case of
- 18:46Speaker 1: Seandre Levy. I remember it was so integral that we
- 18:50Speaker 1: find out if she left her apartment building their n
- 18:52Speaker 1: DC with anyone right and the video cameras in her building,
- 18:57Speaker 1: as I recall, it was her building cycle every seventy
- 19:01Speaker 1: two hours, and the cops didn't get it in time,
- 19:03Speaker 1: and that really hurt the investigation. Nancy, this is an
- 19:06Speaker 1: example of a mama ownermission period. She's doing the lion's
- 19:10Speaker 1: share of this and it's unbelievable. But I want to
- 19:13Speaker 1: ask another question to her. Other than the body, there
- 19:16Speaker 1: is something else you can investigate and look at, and
- 19:20Speaker 1: that's his clothing. Did his clothing have any injury to them?
- 19:24Speaker 1: Like where his pants ripped, where he fell down that
- 19:27Speaker 1: cement ravine, where his clothes disheveled like he had been
- 19:30Speaker 1: in a fight or a struggle. Has she been able
- 19:33Speaker 1: to see the crime skined photographs. I have seen the
- 19:36Speaker 1: crime photographs crime stories With Nancy Grace, we are heart
- 19:56Speaker 1: broken and we deserve answers on how Tyler's stuff occurred.
- 19:59Speaker 1: We want to know what happened the night of September
- 20:01Speaker 1: fourteenth into the early hours of September fifteenth, and how
- 20:04Speaker 1: did he get down there and why. We do not
- 20:07Speaker 1: feel satisfied As the gills For police investigated our son's
- 20:10Speaker 1: death without any litter, any or little effort. We first
- 20:15Speaker 1: learned of our son's death, it was a full blown
- 20:18Speaker 1: comicide investigation. As we were not able to see Tyler
- 20:21Speaker 1: the knight of his death. I begged to see him,
- 20:24Speaker 1: but we were still told no. Due to Tyler and
- 20:27Speaker 1: his belongings and clothes were all still evidence. He had
- 20:30Speaker 1: been taken to Peoria to a forensic pathologist. They backed
- 20:33Speaker 1: his hands for evidence, yet no samples were taken for DNA.
- 20:38Speaker 1: I was miss lead to believe that he had he
- 20:42Speaker 1: would have X rays and he didn't. Within less than
- 20:46Speaker 1: twenty four hours of his death, a press press release
- 20:49Speaker 1: was made on September sixteenth at four thirty two pm
- 20:52Speaker 1: that there were no science of foul play suspected and
- 20:54Speaker 1: no signs of injury. The statement was made off of
- 20:57Speaker 1: preliminary autopsy report stating cause the death was drowning in
- 21:00Speaker 1: three inches of water. No pause us why or how
- 21:04Speaker 1: Tyler ended up in seedar four. I saw pictures of
- 21:07Speaker 1: Maison from that night. He had injuries to me, and
- 21:10Speaker 1: he looked like he had been in a fight. I
- 21:12Speaker 1: was told that by police that they believed that his
- 21:15Speaker 1: injuries were from possible decomp due to possibly being out
- 21:18Speaker 1: there dead for several hours. I have to disagree, as
- 21:21Speaker 1: that autopsy reports seats there are no signs of external
- 21:25Speaker 1: decomp you're hearing Tyler's mom, Sandra Halsney. Of course she's concerned.
- 21:30Speaker 1: She's not getting answers no matter where she turns. As
- 21:35Speaker 1: we went to break, Sharyl McCollum, you were saying, there's
- 21:38Speaker 1: more evidence than just the body itself. Repeats exactly the clothing, Nancy.
- 21:43Speaker 1: He would have injury to his pants if he failed
- 21:46Speaker 1: down that ravine, like if the knee would be ripped,
- 21:49Speaker 1: or the side, if his shirt was cut in, if
- 21:52Speaker 1: it was disheveled and pulled out. Did it look like
- 21:55Speaker 1: he failed it. It looked like he was in a fight.
- 21:58Speaker 1: Body placement in his clothes would tell that the auto
- 22:01Speaker 1: the autop too, Sandy Halsney, Tyler's mom, what about his clothing? Um,
- 22:07Speaker 1: From the pictures of the scene, his clothing looked. The
- 22:13Speaker 1: only pictures that I see are his shirt is all
- 22:16Speaker 1: the way up. They didn't take pictures. I don't think
- 22:19Speaker 1: of his clothing prior to the fireman on the scene
- 22:23Speaker 1: actually pulled everything out of his pockets before the corner
- 22:26Speaker 1: or even the investigator even got there. They didn't print
- 22:32Speaker 1: anything his clothing. I could not see any rips. But um,
- 22:37Speaker 1: the pictures aren't the greatest. And we were told the
- 22:41Speaker 1: night that he died they would not let me id him,
- 22:44Speaker 1: and I said, why can't I id him? I want
- 22:46Speaker 1: to see him. I begged and begged and begged to
- 22:48Speaker 1: see him that night, and they said, no, his whole
- 22:49Speaker 1: body is evidence. His clothes are evidence. And then they
- 22:52Speaker 1: took his clothes and they threw them away after the autopsy,
- 22:58Speaker 1: so I never saw the clothes through his clothes away.
- 23:02Speaker 1: I've never heard of that they sent him. I found
- 23:05Speaker 1: out they sent him to the funeral home four days later.
- 23:09Speaker 1: So at that point, you know they've been tampered with.
- 23:14Speaker 1: And I was not in a great place at that time.
- 23:18Speaker 1: It was the first time I got to see my son,
- 23:20Speaker 1: and I wanted the clothes, and everybody talked me out
- 23:22Speaker 1: of them. But I did not realize his shoes, which
- 23:25Speaker 1: were bright white shoes, were completely clean. The left one
- 23:29Speaker 1: was completely clean, no mud, no nothing, and the right
- 23:31Speaker 1: one had drag marks on the top of it and
- 23:33Speaker 1: a little bit of mud on the side of it.
- 23:38Speaker 1: There's no way he walked through that creek and kept
- 23:40Speaker 1: his shoes clean in the dark, never been there before.
- 23:43Speaker 1: And his feet are basically almost up against the concrete wall,
- 23:48Speaker 1: and his arms are down and his sighed like he
- 23:50Speaker 1: didn't even try to catch himself. His watch is broken
- 23:54Speaker 1: off of him. It was broken off of the tin.
- 23:56Speaker 1: It was still clasped and it ripped off, basically ripped
- 24:00Speaker 1: off skin off his wrist and was laying a foot
- 24:02Speaker 1: away from him. He literally looked staged. There was a
- 24:06Speaker 1: beer clan laying next to him. That they took his
- 24:08Speaker 1: evidence and they threw it away in four days and
- 24:10Speaker 1: didn't print it. They said, well, we didn't think it
- 24:12Speaker 1: was Tyler's. I said, but what if somebody else's prints
- 24:16Speaker 1: were on it? Which police agency was in charge of this, Sandy?
- 24:20Speaker 1: The city police, what city the Gayalsburg, Illinois City Police, Galesburg,
- 24:27Speaker 1: Illinois p D. And we have tried to reach them,
- 24:32Speaker 1: and Don Linly Crime online dot Com investigative reporter, what
- 24:35Speaker 1: mar can you tell me? Nancy? We did reach out
- 24:38Speaker 1: to the Galsburg Police Department, and we have just received
- 24:41Speaker 1: a written response from Chief David Christensen. I'll read some
- 24:45Speaker 1: of the highlights for you. The statement begins, At this time,
- 24:49Speaker 1: nothing learned from the investigation indicates foul play or suspicious
- 24:54Speaker 1: circumstances surrounding Tyler Smith's death. How and why Tyler Smith
- 24:59Speaker 1: ended up down in Cedar Fork is unknown and believed
- 25:03Speaker 1: to be accidental. The statement continues, The Tyler Smith case
- 25:08Speaker 1: remains open and any lead or new information will be investigated.
- 25:12Speaker 1: The case has been featured with a local crime Stoppers posting,
- 25:16Speaker 1: and Tyler Smith's family is now offering a five thousand
- 25:20Speaker 1: dollar reward for information that would lead to an arrest.
- 25:24Speaker 1: To Keith Smith, Tyler's father, what do you think, Keith,
- 25:28Speaker 1: I just think they didn't put any effort towards my son,
- 25:31Speaker 1: and they just wanted us to go away. And they
- 25:34Speaker 1: just probably thought that he was from California because the
- 25:37Speaker 1: California license, and I just think they just been putting
- 25:40Speaker 1: the effort towards his investigation. I just don't understand it.
- 25:43Speaker 1: To Ashley Wilcott joining me Atlanta judge lawyer anchor, you
- 25:48Speaker 1: can find her at Ashley Wilcott dot com. Ashley, what
- 25:51Speaker 1: do you make of this? You know there are a
- 25:53Speaker 1: couple of problems I have with this case, Nancy. One
- 25:55Speaker 1: is my heartbreaks for the parents, and I'm so happy
- 25:59Speaker 1: that you're speaking out about the problems you see with
- 26:02Speaker 1: this explanation for what happened to your son. Their observations
- 26:07Speaker 1: directly contradict the reports by law enforcement. So, for instance,
- 26:11Speaker 1: law enforcement nothing on the face, no sign of anything,
- 26:14Speaker 1: yet we hear from his own mother bruises and marks
- 26:17Speaker 1: on the face, or a bruise and marks on the face.
- 26:20Speaker 1: I think the problem is the unanswered question. What I
- 26:23Speaker 1: cannot imagine is why any law enforcement agency would not
- 26:27Speaker 1: investigate more thoroughly, save the clothes, do the things to
- 26:32Speaker 1: make certain that they absolutely have pinned down exactly what
- 26:37Speaker 1: happened to this young man. I don't get it. And
- 26:39Speaker 1: when you say they had no interests, they blew you off.
- 26:44Speaker 1: That's their job, and it's not just their job. I mean,
- 26:47Speaker 1: Cheryl McCollum, you've been with me from the very beginning
- 26:51Speaker 1: when I first started prosecuting. It's not just a job.
- 26:55Speaker 1: You're certainly not there for the pay. I had to
- 26:58Speaker 1: work two night jobs TG school to make a house
- 27:00Speaker 1: payment while I was a prosecutor, remember that Priday times.
- 27:04Speaker 1: You're there because you want the truth, because you want justice,
- 27:07Speaker 1: because you want answers for people like Sandy Halsney and
- 27:11Speaker 1: Keith Smith, and most of all, to do justice by Tyler.
- 27:17Speaker 1: I mean, I'm looking at Tyler's photo right now and
- 27:21Speaker 1: I'm getting chills all over my body looking at him.
- 27:25Speaker 1: This young man, bright, excited, exuberant, one of five thousand people,
- 27:32Speaker 1: just fifty get picked to go into this police program,
- 27:36Speaker 1: and he was one all over the country that made it.
- 27:39Speaker 1: Loving parents everything, just like your son, Ashley, your son, Cheryl,
- 27:49Speaker 1: my son. This is not right. You know what, at
- 27:54Speaker 1: the end of the day, if it turns out he drowned,
- 27:58Speaker 1: I don't like it, but I accepted. But we can't
- 28:01Speaker 1: say that right now, Cheryl. There's no way that that
- 28:05Speaker 1: can be determined based on what they know. And even
- 28:09Speaker 1: if he did drownd, how do I know somebody didn't
- 28:12Speaker 1: hold his head down? How do I know that what
- 28:15Speaker 1: happened to the money? Why was he bruised up? Why
- 28:18Speaker 1: did he have abrasions all the way down the side
- 28:20Speaker 1: of his body? Why? Cheryl? Why but he suddenly needs
- 28:24Speaker 1: somewhere else to stay within one minute. Why would he
- 28:27Speaker 1: be completely lost within ten minutes to not logical, But Nancy,
- 28:31Speaker 1: I have another major issue right now. As you know,
- 28:36Speaker 1: I'm a prom king investigator for a living. Another part
- 28:39Speaker 1: of my job is I'm the evidence custodian for my
- 28:42Speaker 1: police department. You don't get rid of evidence in four days.
- 28:47Speaker 1: In order for me to dispose of evidence, I've got
- 28:50Speaker 1: to go in front of a judge and get a
- 28:52Speaker 1: court order. I've got to go in front of my
- 28:55Speaker 1: achieved and get approval before I even go to the judge.
- 29:00Speaker 1: There is no way that could happen at my department
- 29:04Speaker 1: in four days. On the case that we are not
- 29:06Speaker 1: finished with, we have asked for crime stoppers to be
- 29:08Speaker 1: brought in and I November thirtieth. We have asked for
- 29:11Speaker 1: the state to come in for a fresh set of
- 29:13Speaker 1: ice and we were denied. We have also turned in
- 29:18Speaker 1: a formal complaint. We have also asked for the Guilsbord
- 29:21Speaker 1: community to please come forward with any information as we
- 29:25Speaker 1: are still trying to find out. I think that's that
- 29:32Speaker 1: led Tyler being deceased in cedar Port. We still need
- 29:36Speaker 1: the police in this matter as they have the authority
- 29:38Speaker 1: to help as the investigation is still open, and we
- 29:41Speaker 1: will need them to help us with Lisa, as we
- 29:44Speaker 1: still need answers to what happened to our son, Tyler Smith.
- 29:47Speaker 1: This is the main reason why we are still here today.
- 29:50Speaker 1: We don't know what happened to Tyler and we won't
- 29:52Speaker 1: ever give up as we are a voice for him.
- 29:55Speaker 1: So please be a voice for Tyler. A spokesperson for
- 29:59Speaker 1: the city told Fox eighteen News they found no evidence
- 30:02Speaker 1: to support the complaint, but he did say the investigation
- 30:06Speaker 1: revealed that in some instances, communications with Tyler's parents fell
- 30:10Speaker 1: below the high standards that the Gaelsburg Police Department strives
- 30:14Speaker 1: for each and every day. As a result, the department
- 30:17Speaker 1: took appropriate internal measures to address this concern and ensure
- 30:22Speaker 1: it does not reoccur. Sandra didn't feel up to doing
- 30:25Speaker 1: an on camera interview, but told us her and Tyler's
- 30:28Speaker 1: dad aren't giving up. She says they were relying on
- 30:32Speaker 1: surveillance video from a local business to show Tyler's last moments,
- 30:36Speaker 1: but she says the video from September was already cleared
- 30:39Speaker 1: off the camera, so they've created their own tipline and
- 30:43Speaker 1: funded a five thousand dollars reward for anyone with information
- 30:47Speaker 1: that leads to an arrest in conviction. Tyler is a
- 30:50Speaker 1: human being who has a mother and a father who
- 30:53Speaker 1: loved him very much. You are hearing from our Frank
- 30:55Speaker 1: klbjtv's Grace Runkle reporting. In my mind, there's so many
- 31:03Speaker 1: gaping holes in the investigation, bad ones getting rid of evidence,
- 31:09Speaker 1: not testing evidence, not taking evidence, not securing fingerprints. To
- 31:15Speaker 1: doctor Michelle Dupree, medical examiner joining me, author of Homicide
- 31:20Speaker 1: Investigation Field Guide, Doctor Dupree, I know that when an
- 31:25Speaker 1: autopsy has done, there's a general panel of tests of
- 31:29Speaker 1: drug tests that are done. Toxicology is what it's called.
- 31:32Speaker 1: They look for pot, they look for cocaine, they look
- 31:34Speaker 1: for heroin, they look for all sorts of illegal drugs.
- 31:39Speaker 1: But is there another panel that looks for things such
- 31:43Speaker 1: as GHB, gamma, hydroxy butter rate, or something that may
- 31:48Speaker 1: have been slipped into his drink? How does that work?
- 31:51Speaker 1: Doctor Dupre Yes, that's uglarious. Actually, when we do a
- 31:54Speaker 1: panel and different labs use different panels, but typically they
- 31:58Speaker 1: will look for all of those and especially in a
- 32:02Speaker 1: case like this where there are some uncertainty or some
- 32:05Speaker 1: question as to you know, why, all of a sudden
- 32:07Speaker 1: he didn't know where he was. That should surely indicate
- 32:10Speaker 1: to look for those things. I don't know whether that
- 32:12Speaker 1: was done or not, but certainly it should be. I'm
- 32:15Speaker 1: just appauled at some of the evidence of the lack
- 32:17Speaker 1: of evidence in this case that was collected. Guys, we
- 32:20Speaker 1: were talking about the death of a bright, bright young man,
- 32:25Speaker 1: Tyler Smith, with a world in front of him. He
- 32:28Speaker 1: was heading off to police academy, one of fifty out
- 32:31Speaker 1: of five thousand that were accepted. John Linley, Crime online
- 32:35Speaker 1: dot Com Investigating Reporter, What more can you tell me?
- 32:38Speaker 1: This is something that Sandy can give us even more
- 32:41Speaker 1: details on. But she says that when she tried to
- 32:44Speaker 1: access Tyler's Facebook page on Sunday, September sixteenth, the day
- 32:50Speaker 1: after his body was found, at seven pm, it was
- 32:54Speaker 1: already designated as a memorial page. Also, she discovered that
- 32:59Speaker 1: all the local Haitian information from Tyler's phone for both
- 33:03Speaker 1: Friday and Saturday was gone, as if it had been wiped.
- 33:07Speaker 1: To Sandy Halsley, what does that mean his phone had
- 33:10Speaker 1: been white? Um, basically the information was gone. His vocations
- 33:15Speaker 1: were on and we could you know, prior day as
- 33:19Speaker 1: you can see where he was. I mean, it picks
- 33:21Speaker 1: up exactly where you go, and um, it was gone,
- 33:24Speaker 1: it was completely there. It didn't exist that he was
- 33:27Speaker 1: in Galesburg at all. Um. The fourteenth of September did
- 33:31Speaker 1: not exist, and the fifteenth that did not exist, like
- 33:34Speaker 1: it never happened. Um. And unfortunately, all that information is encrypted.
- 33:38Speaker 1: And I have tried and tried and tried with Apple
- 33:40Speaker 1: to see if I can get that information back, but
- 33:42Speaker 1: it's it's out in the cloud somewhere, and I mean,
- 33:45Speaker 1: I don't have the capabilities of doing it. I mean,
- 33:48Speaker 1: this is why we've been asking for warrants and and
- 33:52Speaker 1: and they will not give me a warrant. They will
- 33:54Speaker 1: not give me a warrant to Facebook. They will not
- 33:57Speaker 1: give me a warrant to rise and to check the
- 34:00Speaker 1: cocatient histories. And I asked why and he said, well,
- 34:03Speaker 1: there's no crime. And I said, well, how can you
- 34:04Speaker 1: tell if there's no crime if you haven't tried to
- 34:06Speaker 1: prove it. You know, it's within less than twenty four hours,
- 34:10Speaker 1: or they'd halready said he drowned and they were done.
- 34:12Speaker 1: You know, they didn't even open his phone until four
- 34:15Speaker 1: days after he died. Oh, this is just one, one
- 34:18Speaker 1: nightmare after the next. The last two people he was with,
- 34:21Speaker 1: they only called two and five days after for a
- 34:24Speaker 1: phone statement. They didn't bring him down to the department
- 34:27Speaker 1: to interview them until two months later when we found
- 34:30Speaker 1: out they were also on the ATM video with Tyler.
- 34:33Speaker 1: Let me ask you a question. Right there is Sandy
- 34:34Speaker 1: Holsny those two people after the ATM at ten forty two.
- 34:39Speaker 1: You see him walking along around West Street alone. Nobody's
- 34:44Speaker 1: with him. Right then, a couple of questions, Sandy, who
- 34:47Speaker 1: were these two people? Did he know them? There were acquaintances.
- 34:51Speaker 1: One was a buddy that he drilled with and that
- 34:54Speaker 1: he was supposed to stay with, and then the other
- 34:55Speaker 1: one was the cousin of his friend that he was
- 34:58Speaker 1: supposed to stay with. Okay, have you spoken to them?
- 35:01Speaker 1: I have spoken to the one that he was supposed
- 35:05Speaker 1: to stay with. I have not spoke to the other one.
- 35:08Speaker 1: He's never reached out to her. Okay, what did he say?
- 35:11Speaker 1: He at first, when I spoke to him, he said,
- 35:14Speaker 1: you know, he was sorry, he felt like he left
- 35:16Speaker 1: Tyler down. You know, if we needed anything, it would
- 35:20Speaker 1: be fine. And then I reached out to him a
- 35:22Speaker 1: week later and said, hey, you know, I'm not having
- 35:23Speaker 1: any luck with the police getting any information. Can you
- 35:26Speaker 1: at least tell me what you do remember when Tyler
- 35:30Speaker 1: got there? Can you give me a timeline from when
- 35:32Speaker 1: Tyler got there to the point you don't remember because
- 35:34Speaker 1: he was telling the police he doesn't remember anything, And
- 35:37Speaker 1: so I said, can you at least give me that?
- 35:39Speaker 1: And his answer was, I'm sorry, We've already given our
- 35:42Speaker 1: statements to the police. We would be the last and
- 35:46Speaker 1: least likely to be able to help you. And that
- 35:49Speaker 1: was the last I spoke to him. Based on what
- 35:51Speaker 1: you know, it sounds like you see him alone walking,
- 35:56Speaker 1: They left him, I mean, well he or he left
- 35:59Speaker 1: them at whatever bar and was going somewhere else. So
- 36:03Speaker 1: I'm wondering who approached him, who, if anyone, How did
- 36:07Speaker 1: he get covered with bruises and lacerations? How did that happen?
- 36:12Speaker 1: Doctor Michelle Duprie. If he had fallen from a bridge,
- 36:17Speaker 1: If he had fallen and then he died upon impact,
- 36:23Speaker 1: because we don't have X rays of his body, would
- 36:27Speaker 1: he have bruised or because it was so close to
- 36:30Speaker 1: the time of death, would he have not bruised Nancy.
- 36:32Speaker 1: That's a good question, and yes, absolutely, if he is
- 36:35Speaker 1: still alive at the time that he sustains that injury,
- 36:38Speaker 1: he will bruise. So there should be evidence, physical evidence
- 36:42Speaker 1: that we can see of any blunt trauma that may
- 36:45Speaker 1: have happened like that. We should also be able to
- 36:48Speaker 1: determine if any of the blunt trauma was post mortem.
- 36:51Speaker 1: We are learning. The forensic pathologists determined all of his
- 36:55Speaker 1: facial bones were intact, including his name or septim. He
- 37:01Speaker 1: did not break his nose. There were no external signs
- 37:05Speaker 1: of neck injury or trauma. The pathologist said it was
- 37:10Speaker 1: just superficial scrapes on his face. That his skull and
- 37:15Speaker 1: scalp were intact. He was found in an area of
- 37:20Speaker 1: Cedar Fork surrounded by twenty foot walls on both sides.
- 37:26Speaker 1: His feet were up against the south side wall with
- 37:30Speaker 1: his body pointed out into the water. The creek wasn't
- 37:36Speaker 1: even full. Is there a way he could have fallen
- 37:40Speaker 1: down in there? Keith Smith. I don't see how he
- 37:43Speaker 1: could have fallen down in there, and we went there
- 37:47Speaker 1: plenty of times just trying to figure it out, and
- 37:50Speaker 1: just from the way his hands were placed down to
- 37:53Speaker 1: his side, and the way he was positioned, I just
- 37:56Speaker 1: couldn't figure out how he would be able to even
- 37:59Speaker 1: if he fell hung down, he would fall forward against
- 38:02Speaker 1: the wall, and that turn around and fall with his
- 38:06Speaker 1: hands to his side just don't make anything. Well. He
- 38:10Speaker 1: on his back or his stomach. He was he was
- 38:15Speaker 1: on his He was on his stomach, arms down at
- 38:17Speaker 1: his side, and his left side of his face was
- 38:20Speaker 1: more down than his right. And the majority of his
- 38:22Speaker 1: trauma is to the right. Um. He has he has
- 38:26Speaker 1: blunt injuries on both sides of his head, both sides
- 38:29Speaker 1: of his face, his elbow, his knees, he has has
- 38:32Speaker 1: like puncture wounds on his ankle um, on his on
- 38:35Speaker 1: his buttocks, he has an injury um almost like a
- 38:39Speaker 1: road rash injury um. He was bleeding from the bottom
- 38:43Speaker 1: of his chin, his mouth um. And And the thing
- 38:48Speaker 1: is is they didn't even test the water that he
- 38:51Speaker 1: that this supposedly he drowned it. But they didn't even
- 38:53Speaker 1: test the water that they found in his lungs versus
- 38:55Speaker 1: the water that was there. And it's not even saying
- 38:57Speaker 1: that he really has water in his lungs. It's more
- 39:00Speaker 1: saying he has muddy muddy water and his naars, you know,
- 39:06Speaker 1: and his narees and his nose. What do you think
- 39:09Speaker 1: about the theory that he was hit by a car
- 39:13Speaker 1: and instead of calling police, someone disposed of his body.
- 39:18Speaker 1: I mean, that's possible. I mean, the one video that
- 39:20Speaker 1: would have shown that we were lied to about the
- 39:22Speaker 1: police and said it was checked, and it wasn't. So
- 39:27Speaker 1: you know, it's it's it's hard, it's you know, those
- 39:29Speaker 1: are all the million scenarios that go through your mind.
- 39:32Speaker 1: I mean, there is a car that follows him down
- 39:34Speaker 1: within twenty seconds of going down that road. Then there's
- 39:38Speaker 1: a police officer that comes through at this about two minutes,
- 39:42Speaker 1: almost exactly two minutes after Tyler walks down that road,
- 39:46Speaker 1: and his phone randomly goes off at that time. What
- 39:50Speaker 1: about that police cruiser video, Cheryl McCollum. If that cruiser
- 39:54Speaker 1: pass a vehicle, or passed a group of people, or
- 39:58Speaker 1: passed his frailer car, it would show up on that video.
- 40:01Speaker 1: Brex and we were told. I asked him about the
- 40:04Speaker 1: dash cam video, and they so the only time the
- 40:05Speaker 1: dash cam video comes on is when they turn their
- 40:08Speaker 1: lights on, and and you know, their patrol, their actual
- 40:12Speaker 1: lights when you're not just patrolling. And I asked what
- 40:16Speaker 1: vehicle that was and they told me they couldn't figure
- 40:19Speaker 1: that out. And I said, you know what beat that
- 40:21Speaker 1: car's patrolling in. He's not rushing anywhere. And they said, well,
- 40:25Speaker 1: we're sorry, we can't tell you that. To Ashley Wilcot,
- 40:29Speaker 1: Sandy and Keith were saying they couldn't get the phone
- 40:32Speaker 1: records or any of the computer records. What about a subpoena?
- 40:36Speaker 1: Ducas take them a civil You don't have to have
- 40:39Speaker 1: a warrant from the cops. How about your own civil lawsuits? Subpoena? Absolutely,
- 40:44Speaker 1: I think that's what they need to do and what
- 40:45Speaker 1: are and there is a mechanism to do that. Legally.
- 40:48Speaker 1: They may have to get an attorney, but it's worth
- 40:50Speaker 1: it because they need to see those records. The other
- 40:53Speaker 1: thing I want to point out is my understanding is,
- 40:55Speaker 1: and they can correct me if I'm wrong, that on
- 40:58Speaker 1: one of their friends thought that he had quote unquote
- 41:01Speaker 1: butt dialed with the phone in his pocket, but that
- 41:03Speaker 1: they heard another voice. And I've not heard any mention
- 41:08Speaker 1: of law enforcement at all, considering the fact that there
- 41:10Speaker 1: was another person with him. What about that, Sandy I've
- 41:13Speaker 1: asked him in the Nigga said well, we don't know,
- 41:15Speaker 1: you know. You know, every time I asked him questions,
- 41:19Speaker 1: it's either what's that going to tell us? Or I
- 41:23Speaker 1: guess we can, or we don't know, you know, and
- 41:26Speaker 1: they're not interested in finding out. I mean, I had
- 41:28Speaker 1: to look at his autopsy pictures to find out where
- 41:31Speaker 1: his phone was to find out that it was in
- 41:33Speaker 1: his pocket because it left a lividity mark on his leg.
- 41:36Speaker 1: And that was three months after I've gotten three different
- 41:40Speaker 1: answers of where his phone was, and they just didn't
- 41:44Speaker 1: general to me. To me, this sounds like it needs
- 41:47Speaker 1: to be handed over to the State Attorney General's office
- 41:49Speaker 1: because clearly the local police department is not acting. What
- 41:54Speaker 1: do you think about that? There's zero question this needs
- 41:57Speaker 1: to move somewhere else. Where is the phone? Nails, Sandy,
- 42:00Speaker 1: We have the phone. They released the phone and all
- 42:04Speaker 1: his stuff out of his pockets in four days to
- 42:07Speaker 1: the family. Okay, so they released the phone to you
- 42:09Speaker 1: the same time they destroyed the other evidence. Correct, And
- 42:13Speaker 1: that was before they even talked for a phone statement
- 42:15Speaker 1: to the second person he was with that night, Sandy,
- 42:18Speaker 1: if you considered passing this up moving it up and
- 42:21Speaker 1: asking the State aj to takeover. I have, and I've
- 42:24Speaker 1: I've spoke to the state actually three different times, and
- 42:27Speaker 1: just recently I spoke to the state. I have tried
- 42:30Speaker 1: to reach out to the Governor's office, the representatives, the senators,
- 42:34Speaker 1: trying to push to get the state to come in
- 42:35Speaker 1: because there are still things they can do. They can candidate.
- 42:38Speaker 1: What did the Attorney General's office say to you. The
- 42:40Speaker 1: Attorney General's office, it's up to the State Police. They
- 42:43Speaker 1: basically just said, we don't handle this. And then I
- 42:47Speaker 1: went to the State Police and I was able to
- 42:49Speaker 1: get pretty high up in the Springfield area, which is
- 42:51Speaker 1: where you know, our capital is in Illinois, and I
- 42:56Speaker 1: was reached out by District two and I spoke to
- 43:00Speaker 1: the commander and sergeant through um Um District two, which
- 43:04Speaker 1: is our district or the districts where Tyler died, and
- 43:07Speaker 1: they said, at this time they have not been invited in,
- 43:09Speaker 1: but we are being told by the Gildsworth Police that
- 43:11Speaker 1: they did invite them in. So I'm being thrown back
- 43:14Speaker 1: and forth between the two. They say, well, you know,
- 43:16Speaker 1: a lot, a lot of all of the physical evidence
- 43:18Speaker 1: is gone. I said, but you can still canvass the
- 43:20Speaker 1: areas agree. We can still get a hold of all
- 43:23Speaker 1: those wrecords that you haven't been able to obtain, and
- 43:26Speaker 1: try to get the dash cam video and try to
- 43:29Speaker 1: interview other people. There's still a lot that can be done.
- 43:34Speaker 1: We want answers. Maybe they entertain the idea that they
- 43:38Speaker 1: might need to exhume their son and have a second autopic.
- 43:42Speaker 1: We haven't. We have entertained that, but it's like it's
- 43:48Speaker 1: you know, it's it's very hard to do that. And
- 43:52Speaker 1: I feel like, okay, if it shows that there's I mean,
- 43:56Speaker 1: can you get DNA after this point in time, after
- 43:59Speaker 1: five months off of a body? I don't know? Um?
- 44:02Speaker 1: Can you get UM? We could have him X rayed
- 44:05Speaker 1: and it could tell us he has broken bones, but
- 44:08Speaker 1: it's not going to tell us exactly probably what happened
- 44:10Speaker 1: to him at this point. So much evidence, the basic
- 44:14Speaker 1: things that could have been done at the scene were
- 44:16Speaker 1: not done, and I just I would exume his body
- 44:21Speaker 1: if it was something that would give us answers, I
- 44:23Speaker 1: would do it. But I'm not just gonna exume his
- 44:26Speaker 1: body if it's gonna just be Another person said, I
- 44:30Speaker 1: think I think I heard Keith Smith in the background,
- 44:33Speaker 1: go ahead, Kate. I was telling Sandy that when we
- 44:35Speaker 1: first went back to talk to him, that first thing
- 44:38Speaker 1: he was saying was, you know what could your son drowned?
- 44:42Speaker 1: And right then I just knew that there was no
- 44:45Speaker 1: going to be no effort towards his investigation. They let
- 44:48Speaker 1: me repeat that, the parents of this boy go to
- 44:54Speaker 1: police and they say, what the f can we do? Okay,
- 44:59Speaker 1: right there, that needs to go to the Attorney General's office.
- 45:04Speaker 1: Right there, they clearly don't have their heart in this investigation.
- 45:10Speaker 1: We want justice. If you have any information, please dial
- 45:16Speaker 1: three zero nine seven six two nine five hundred repeat
- 45:20Speaker 1: three O nine seven six two nine five hundred or
- 45:25Speaker 1: two three nine two five eight eighty nine ninety five
- 45:30Speaker 1: two three nine two five eight eighty nine ninety five.
- 45:35Speaker 1: Somebody knows something. Nancy Grace Crime Story, signing off, goodbye friend,