Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / MOM DRAINS POND HERSELF WITH SUMP PUMP TO FIND MURDERED SON WHEN SHERIFFS REFUSE

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MOM DRAINS POND HERSELF WITH SUMP PUMP TO FIND MURDERED SON WHEN SHERIFFS REFUSE · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. It is often said and
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Speaker 1: quoted that there is nothing on earth stronger than a
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Speaker 1: mother's love. Love that will make a mother do anything,
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Speaker 1: go anywhere, brave dangerous circumstances, and most of all, never
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Speaker 1: give up. And that is today's crime Stories. I'm Nancy Grace.
0:45
Speaker 1: This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us
0:48
Speaker 1: here at Fox Nation and Serious XM one eleven talking
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Speaker 1: about a handsome young guy, Edward Goodwin. Take a listen
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Speaker 1: to our friends at kf VS. Goodwin was the father
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Speaker 1: of two children, a teenager and a young child. What
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Speaker 1: is your grandson? Cd you about his dad? Immensity? On
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Speaker 1: Goodwin's birthday, his mother erected across in their front yard,
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Speaker 1: the only memorial she has for her son. Everybody, there's
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Speaker 1: a new flower on there. The Butler County Sheriff says
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Speaker 1: he hears from missus Goodwin almost every day. I do.
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Speaker 1: I'm probably a pain in his neck. I guess. So
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Speaker 1: your son just disappears off the face of the earth.
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Speaker 1: You have no idea where he is. You know he
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Speaker 1: would never walk out on his children or you his mother,
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Speaker 1: But yet no resolution is seemingly nothing being done about it?
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Speaker 1: Can you imagine going out to your front yard and
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Speaker 1: erecting a cross for your son that you can't find,
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Speaker 1: that you haven't heard of from, and every day putting
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Speaker 1: another flower there, one day after the next, after the next,
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Speaker 1: after the next. What happened to Edward Goodwin? Listen? Edward
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Speaker 1: Goodwin was a self employed tile lair and father to
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Speaker 1: a son and daughter. Connie Goodwin says her son came
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Speaker 1: to visit often, but in June several days went by
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Speaker 1: without contact, and then Edward Goodwin uncharacteristically missed a planned
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Speaker 1: family barbecue for the fourth of July. The next day,
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Speaker 1: Connie Goodwin reported her son missing and more from our
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Speaker 1: friends at k f VS. Connie Goodwin, here's a lot
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Speaker 1: of stories about her son, but she's hoping now a
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Speaker 1: new tip can blow the sheriff's investigation wide open. I
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Speaker 1: will never stop searching from using. Connie Goodwin has been
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Speaker 1: fighting for answers for the past year and is not
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Speaker 1: giving up. Edward Goodwin disappeared June twenty seventh of last year.
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Speaker 1: It's been a living hell because you don't know where
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Speaker 1: your son's ay the Butler County Sheriff's Department, if he's
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Speaker 1: probably dead. They believe he's probably dead. Okay, joining me
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Speaker 1: an all star panel of experts. But first I'm going
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Speaker 1: to go to a special guest joining us. This is
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Speaker 1: Edward's mother, Connie Goodwin, along with his father ed Goodwin.
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Speaker 1: Miss Goodwin. Thank you for being with us. Thank you.
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Speaker 1: I mean, that's a fine. How do you do Oh
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Speaker 1: he's probably dead? What I mean if the sheriff came
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Speaker 1: and told me that about somebody I love, I think
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Speaker 1: I would blow up like a stick of dynamite. But
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Speaker 1: before we get to the sheriff saying oh, yeah, he's
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Speaker 1: probably dead, I want to talk about when you first
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Speaker 1: realized something was wrong, that you had no idea where
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Speaker 1: is your son Edward? What happened? I noticed something was
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Speaker 1: wrong the weekend, in the last weekend in June. It
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Speaker 1: would just it just didn't feel right m July to
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Speaker 1: twenty nights, maybe during the whole week. It was just
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Speaker 1: it was just a different feeling. I can't explain it.
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Speaker 1: But whenever, and we searched everywhere, we called his phone,
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Speaker 1: we never did get a hold of things. We would
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Speaker 1: it just go straight to the voicemail. Yes, yes, and
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Speaker 1: July the fourth whenever never showed up for the barbecue. Okay,
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Speaker 1: that's not right, now, that is not right. As long
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Speaker 1: as the twins have been alive, we have had a
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Speaker 1: July the fourth blowout. We gill, we cook out, we
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Speaker 1: had people over, we get a slippy slide for the
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Speaker 1: front yard, the whole shebang, right, and as kind of
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Speaker 1: a command performance, you show up for July the fourth
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Speaker 1: exactly well. And he already had plans to pick up
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Speaker 1: his daughter at this time, and he whenever he didn't
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Speaker 1: pick her right up right in and there we knew
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Speaker 1: there was something wrong. He didn't show up for Juda
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Speaker 1: the fourth. My daughter Jennifer, she she got on the
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Speaker 1: phone with Ahnt and you know, kind of explained to
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Speaker 1: the lady, and the lady give her some numbers that
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Speaker 1: was called from my son's phone and some text messages,
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Speaker 1: numbers that was sent. But still nobody could find your son,
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Speaker 1: right And when did the texts and the phone calls?
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Speaker 1: Could you see or understand when they stopped? And did
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Speaker 1: that coincide with when you missed him? Yeah? It was
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Speaker 1: he was the phone. The last time ever used his
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Speaker 1: phone was July, I mean June twenty ninth, that morning too,
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Speaker 1: ed Goodwen, This is Edward's father, so we've got the
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Speaker 1: last time he uses his phone June twenty nine. Mister Goodwin,
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Speaker 1: when did you start feeling uneasy? What made you feel
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Speaker 1: uneasy and feel that something was amiss with Edward? You know,
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Speaker 1: get a hold of him, and nobody talked to him,
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Speaker 1: And I went to some places to work people that
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Speaker 1: knew him that you know, I might have seen him,
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Speaker 1: because everybody'd seen him, and everybody's telling that they hadn't
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Speaker 1: seen him a few days, you know, Cheryl McCall, I'm
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Speaker 1: trying to figure out what that's like when you start
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Speaker 1: going Okay, I guess with the children, I would go
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Speaker 1: to the playground, I would go to the school, I
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Speaker 1: would go to where they have scouts. I'd go everywhere
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Speaker 1: around the neighborhood. Edward's a grown man, so I guess
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Speaker 1: you go to the friend's house, you go to their house,
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Speaker 1: you go to where they work, just everything you can
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Speaker 1: think of, and that feeling of always hitting a dead
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Speaker 1: end with this case at the family once they saw
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Speaker 1: what you and I talk about all the time, that
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Speaker 1: break in somebody's pattern. He's not returning calls, he's not
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Speaker 1: picking up that's not normal. This is a man that
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Speaker 1: owns his own business, so that cell phone is his livelihood.
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Speaker 1: So he's not answering the phone, he's not picking up
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Speaker 1: his child, which he's never failed to do that before.
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Speaker 1: And now he's missed a family event, which again he's
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Speaker 1: never failed to do. So these multiple breaks in pattern
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Speaker 1: are a great concern to Connie Good. When this is
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Speaker 1: Edward's mother. How old are his children at the time,
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Speaker 1: Halei she was four, and Gauge she was fixteen. Oh no,
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Speaker 1: no way would he leave behind those children, you know?
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Speaker 1: And how did they respond with their father being gone
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Speaker 1: and nobody hearing from him? They hurt, you know, Halie,
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Speaker 1: she was you know, a little small, you know, it's like,
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Speaker 1: you know, she really didn't understand, but she knew daddy
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Speaker 1: wasn't coming around. And at Gauge he you know, he
7:53
Speaker 1: finished school, he went all the way to graduate, you know.
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Speaker 1: And uh, I mean, and he missed him every day still. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: even when my husband goes out of town for work
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Speaker 1: that night, when it's just the three of us sitting
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Speaker 1: around the table, I mean, him not being there, it
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Speaker 1: just feels all wrong. And now you've got these two
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Speaker 1: children and no dad. When did you first report him missing, Connie,
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Speaker 1: I reported him missing July to sifth, day after July fourth.
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Speaker 1: So the day after he doesn't show up for the
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Speaker 1: July of the fourth party, you report him missing. Break.
8:34
Speaker 1: I want to go to another mom joining us who
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Speaker 1: never gave up on justice for her daughter, Josephine Wentzel.
8:41
Speaker 1: This is Crystal Mitchell's mother, founder of Angels of Justice. Josephine.
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Speaker 1: When did you get the feeling something was wrong with Crystal?
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Speaker 1: That was the day I woke up and I knew
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Speaker 1: something was wrong, and she was, unbeknownst to me, she
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Speaker 1: was laying their dead unfounded. When I was going through
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Speaker 1: all those feelings and emotions, and later on it got intense.
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Speaker 1: When the police got to the scene, my feelings got
9:09
Speaker 1: more intense. I got sick to my stomach. I knew
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Speaker 1: definitely something was wrong. I was getting all these feelings
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Speaker 1: that were coming to me. It's a terrible feeling, but
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Speaker 1: I'm really sorry Connie and mister Gooden, what you're going through.
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Speaker 1: The pain that you're going through is shared by many.
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Speaker 1: I have two cases that I'm working on right now,
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Speaker 1: assisting with and two missing girls is the same thing.
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Speaker 1: Nobody would take I try to get the FBI to
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Speaker 1: work on it, and they won't take the case unless
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Speaker 1: they're searching for a body man. That's tough, and all
9:43
Speaker 1: of these cases have moms who want answers. Time stories
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Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace, Connie Goodwin. When you contacted the sheriff's
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Speaker 1: what did they say? They put out a you know,
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Speaker 1: they started searching a little bit and therefore at a curss.
10:14
Speaker 1: So it felt like that they wasn't taking it very seriously.
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Speaker 1: I mean it went on for like a couple of
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Speaker 1: months like that. Why because he's a grown man. Yeah,
10:23
Speaker 1: well that was one of the stories stating that he
10:28
Speaker 1: had took off with some year old Alabama. Why do
10:30
Speaker 1: they always say that? Normally they say it about women,
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Speaker 1: Miss Goodwin, Oh, she took off with her boyfriend, a
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Speaker 1: boyfriend or a lover. Instead of realizing the mom is saying,
10:40
Speaker 1: he never goes to day without texting me. He didn't
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Speaker 1: just quote take off. How often did you talk to
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Speaker 1: Edward via text or my phone? Every day? Every day?
10:50
Speaker 1: You know, they would maybe be like a day in between,
10:53
Speaker 1: you know, it depends on how his work schedule was
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Speaker 1: and how he was working, but I mean it was
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Speaker 1: every day, every other day that he would call home
11:00
Speaker 1: or texts or come by. And whenever you don't do,
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Speaker 1: you know, whenever your child don't do that, there's something wrong.
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Speaker 1: And just like she was talking about, you know that
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Speaker 1: you get feelings, you know. I mean, I've had so
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Speaker 1: many feelings that, you know, they're hard to describe, but
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Speaker 1: you feel it. I mean, you really feel that there's
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Speaker 1: something wrong, you know, and when you try to tell somebody,
11:23
Speaker 1: you know, it's like they don't know what you're talking about.
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Speaker 1: So they look at you like, you know, there's something
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Speaker 1: wrong with you. You know. Yes, So there's a feeling
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Speaker 1: that a mother did when something is wrong. You know.
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Speaker 1: It sounds to me like the sheriff's just as soon.
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Speaker 1: Well he's a grown man. He took off. The mom
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Speaker 1: was crazy. Guys, they tell her, well, if he is dead,
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Speaker 1: his body has not been recovered. Take a listen to
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Speaker 1: our French grey honeycutt. They say, his body has not
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Speaker 1: been recovered. I mean, we go out and we searched
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Speaker 1: for a son on gravel roads, logging roads, holes, wells,
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Speaker 1: you know, you name it. Recently, she even put up
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Speaker 1: a billboard hoping for a new lead. He wasn't perfect.
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Speaker 1: I'm not saying he was perfect, but whatever he did do,
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Speaker 1: he didn't deserve to be beat to death, you know.
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Speaker 1: I mean he had a family he loved and they
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Speaker 1: loved him. You know, you just said something, miss Goodwin.
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Speaker 1: He wasn't perfect, and I always like to say, he
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Speaker 1: may not be perfect, but he's perfect for me. Exactly.
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Speaker 1: Tell me about your son. What was he like growing up?
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Speaker 1: What kind of man did he grow into? He was
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Speaker 1: always high spirited, joking around all the time, you know,
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Speaker 1: I mean, he had a real good sense of humor.
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Speaker 1: He always loved laughing, you know, playing with the kids,
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Speaker 1: his nieces and nephews. On holidays, like on Easter, he
12:47
Speaker 1: would be the first one out there to hide the
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Speaker 1: eggs and take the little ones out to you know,
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Speaker 1: the hunt Easter eggs. He was always there for the
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Speaker 1: kids at Christmas mornings. He was always he was always
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Speaker 1: the first one on Mother's Day, on my birthday, he
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Speaker 1: was always one first one to be here at the house.
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Speaker 1: And that's an empty killing when it don't happen anymore.
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Speaker 1: You told me that you taught to him on the
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Speaker 1: phone or text it with him, or he would just
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Speaker 1: drop by every day. One of those three things would
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Speaker 1: happen nearly every day. Tell me about him just dropping by.
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Speaker 1: What was that like? He would just stop by and
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Speaker 1: get a sandwiches and say, hey, Mom, hey Dad, you
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Speaker 1: know I wanted, you know, doing any help with anything,
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Speaker 1: or you know, and chake on engage and you know
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Speaker 1: a lot of times he would come and he would
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Speaker 1: ready and he would mow, you know, just whatever we
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Speaker 1: needed done. You know, I mean, you know you said
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Speaker 1: something funny right there. Um, you said it, come over
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Speaker 1: and make a sandwich? Is that it? Didn't you say that? Yes,
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Speaker 1: I'm just thinking about my son. My daughter, of course
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Speaker 1: doesn't eat like a horse like my son. But some
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Speaker 1: of the happiest moments that we have, our whole family
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Speaker 1: is sitting down together for supper or you know, after school.
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Speaker 1: It's always my son comes in and we sit at
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Speaker 1: the kitchen table or hang around the kitchen and he
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Speaker 1: cleans out the fridge, and it could not make me happier.
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Speaker 1: I'm just thinking about Edward just coming by and you
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Speaker 1: hear his carpool up for his truck and the next
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Speaker 1: thing you know, you hear the door open. You know
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Speaker 1: it's him. You know, I can tell who's coming in
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Speaker 1: the door. I can tell if it's my husband, my son,
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Speaker 1: my daughter, or my mother who lives with us she's
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Speaker 1: ninety one. I can tell by the way they come
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Speaker 1: in the door, even the way the door opens and
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Speaker 1: shuts who it is. And I just imagine you and
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Speaker 1: the home when you hear Edward come in? Yes, and
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Speaker 1: I bet you smiled on the inside every single time.
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Speaker 1: So you even put up a billboard? Did I hear that?
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Speaker 1: All right? Mister Goodwin with me is Edward's father, ed Goodwin.
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Speaker 1: You guys put up a billboard trying to get a lead. Okay,
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Speaker 1: Ryan Crow helped me out. Ryan Croll investigated journalists with
15:13
Speaker 1: the Riverfront Times. Ryan, they have to put up a
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Speaker 1: billboard to get a lead. I mean, listen, I am
15:23
Speaker 1: all about law enforcement. I spent my whole legal career
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Speaker 1: catching the bad guys. But what are the sheriff's doing.
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Speaker 1: The family has to go put up a billboard. Yeah,
15:36
Speaker 1: it's incredible, and I wish I could say this is
15:38
Speaker 1: the only case I've covered in Missouri where a family
15:42
Speaker 1: has put up a billboard trying to keep their missing
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Speaker 1: loved one's name and the public conscious. But it's something
15:49
Speaker 1: I've heard of before and whenever. The Riverfront Times first
15:53
Speaker 1: report of the story broke the story last week, I
15:56
Speaker 1: spoke to Connie, and to be honest, I think in
15:59
Speaker 1: our conversation over the phone, I really didn't grasp the
16:02
Speaker 1: sort of enormity of her efforts and her dedication until
16:06
Speaker 1: I sort of had time to digest it. I mean,
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Speaker 1: it's just a it's an incredible story, an incredible testament.
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Speaker 1: Ryan Crawl with the Riverfront Times. Did you hear she
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Speaker 1: puts up across in her front yard and every day
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Speaker 1: puts a flower because she doesn't have it if he's dead.
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Speaker 1: She doesn't have a grave, she doesn't have an urn,
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Speaker 1: she got nothing, so she erects across and puts a flower.
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Speaker 1: Can you imagine that, going to lay a flower down
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Speaker 1: every day and wonder where's my boy? Where is my boy?
16:43
Speaker 1: My son? Yeah? Okay, then we think we get a break.
16:50
Speaker 1: Take a listen to our friends at crime Online. For
16:53
Speaker 1: two years, the good Ones had no idea of what
16:56
Speaker 1: happened to their son Edward. A few tips came in,
16:59
Speaker 1: but then a break. Police get word of a grudge
17:02
Speaker 1: between Edward Goodwin and two men he had known since
17:05
Speaker 1: Great School the men had even worked together. Both Connie
17:09
Speaker 1: and law enforcement came to believe that the two men
17:11
Speaker 1: killed Goodwin. Police say there were witnesses, and the witnesses
17:16
Speaker 1: ultimately talked Goodwin had been assaulted. Goodwin had been assaulted.
17:21
Speaker 1: You get a tip of a grudge, an argument of
17:26
Speaker 1: sorts between Edward and some guys he has known since
17:30
Speaker 1: elementary school. But still nobody can find Edward based on
17:37
Speaker 1: the little bit that they've got, They make and arrest.
17:41
Speaker 1: Listen to kf v S. When he was brought in
17:43
Speaker 1: by Sheriff Dobbs, my camera was rolling and they asked
17:46
Speaker 1: him if he had anything to do with the disappearance
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Speaker 1: or murder of Edward Goodwin. Do you have anything to
17:51
Speaker 1: do with the disappearance of Edward Goodwin? No, you didn't
17:55
Speaker 1: kill him, nothing to do with that. What do you
17:58
Speaker 1: have to say for yourself? But the county, I stop
18:01
Speaker 1: killing us some people. Yeah. Sheriff Dobbs tells me they
18:07
Speaker 1: found hurt while they were serving a warrant and that
18:09
Speaker 1: he was hiding in the back bedroom. Cheryl McCallum joining me,
18:14
Speaker 1: forensic expert and founder of the Cold Case Research Institute.
18:17
Speaker 1: You can find her at Coldcase Crimes dot Org. You
18:20
Speaker 1: know what, when the cop comes to him my front door,
18:23
Speaker 1: I don't go run hide under the bed. That's just
18:26
Speaker 1: not what I do. So what's he running to the
18:28
Speaker 1: back bedroom and hiding for Well, I've ventured to guess
18:32
Speaker 1: he knows there's a warrant because he knows exactly what
18:36
Speaker 1: he's done, and probably multiple situations. So he's gonna run
18:41
Speaker 1: thinking they're not gonna look for him, and I, you know,
18:43
Speaker 1: find him under the bed or wherever he was hiding
18:45
Speaker 1: in the closet or wherever. But you know, Nancy, it
18:49
Speaker 1: wasn't just his running. It's the fact that for two
18:52
Speaker 1: years he sat in that same town with those same people.
18:57
Speaker 1: I guarantee you they know what happened to Edward. Absolutely, Jackie,
19:03
Speaker 1: let's play our cut five our friends at k f
19:10
Speaker 1: v S. Goodwin says, all the hard work and paint
19:13
Speaker 1: is worth it for the sun she loves so much.
19:16
Speaker 1: I miss a smile. Well, Edward failed, so we can
19:22
Speaker 1: lay him to rest. The Butler County Sheriff says a
19:25
Speaker 1: person of interest in this case because stopped cooperating with
19:28
Speaker 1: their investigation. He's currently incarcerated on unrelated charges and was
19:32
Speaker 1: originally churched with assault, but those churches were dropped due
19:35
Speaker 1: to lack of evidence. Miss Goodwin, When you find out
19:40
Speaker 1: the case against the so called grade school friends is
19:45
Speaker 1: dropped for lack of evidence, what went through your mind?
19:51
Speaker 1: I exploded because I knew and he just lived like
19:55
Speaker 1: three miles from my house. I don't have to pass
19:58
Speaker 1: his house every day go into town. It just doesn't
20:01
Speaker 1: make sense to me. It sounds like somebody is not
20:04
Speaker 1: doing their job. They've got a guy, how to grudge,
20:09
Speaker 1: how to fight. According to witnesses, around the time your
20:12
Speaker 1: son disappears, they get him and then suddenly the charges
20:19
Speaker 1: are dropped. But what about data? What about evidence? Take
20:25
Speaker 1: a listen to our friends over at Family's United for
20:29
Speaker 1: Justice in Butler County speaking with Connie mid July twenty fifteen.
20:34
Speaker 1: This area is where my son's phone ping and mid July,
20:41
Speaker 1: Butler County search the field, okay, but they didn't search
20:46
Speaker 1: the pond. When Edward Goodwin was reported missing in July
20:49
Speaker 1: of twenty fifteen, the search included tracking his cell phone
20:52
Speaker 1: and where it pinged around the time he disappeared. One
20:55
Speaker 1: of the areas was around an unnamed pond in Butler
20:58
Speaker 1: County investigators did not serve the pond. They searched an
21:01
Speaker 1: area adjacent to the pond. Okay, I don't understand it.
21:05
Speaker 1: Pains by a pond, but they don't search the pond.
21:09
Speaker 1: Connie Goodwin, exactly did you ask him to search the pond? Yes?
21:14
Speaker 1: Multiple times? Ed Goodwin? Did you ask him to search
21:18
Speaker 1: the pond? Yes? Why wouldn't they search the darn pond? Ed? Well,
21:23
Speaker 1: I guess it's just been too much of the Romantot
21:37
Speaker 1: crime stories with Nancy Grace, Ryan Crawl. Has anybody ever
21:43
Speaker 1: asked the sheriff why they wouldn't search the pond? Well,
21:47
Speaker 1: my understanding, and obviously, please Connie or Edward crush me
21:50
Speaker 1: if I'm wrong. Whether every time someone did ask the
21:54
Speaker 1: sheriff there was always some reason not to. Maybe there
21:58
Speaker 1: was other crimes that were of more immediately for two years.
22:02
Speaker 1: For two years, they're too busy. What other crime? I shot?
22:06
Speaker 1: Lifting at the Dollar General? Seriously? Yeah, that's that's what
22:11
Speaker 1: I heard. Yeah, and that or they would blame whether
22:14
Speaker 1: or something like that. Basically, there was always an excuse
22:17
Speaker 1: to not go anthy, I gotta jump in here jump.
22:21
Speaker 1: I am utterly gobsmacked at the fact they would have
22:26
Speaker 1: to ask. That should have been done immediately when they
22:31
Speaker 1: searched the field the first time. You've got a pond there,
22:35
Speaker 1: that is obvious. That is a just traditional thing you're
22:39
Speaker 1: gonna do. We're gonna cover this field and if there's
22:42
Speaker 1: a barn on it, or an abandoned building or a
22:47
Speaker 1: wine celler, we're gonna check it. But if you've got
22:49
Speaker 1: a pond there, that's obvious. These parents should have never
22:53
Speaker 1: had to ask. Never yes. And you know what, oh, Nancy,
22:58
Speaker 1: there is other nonprofit organizations out there, like Adventurous Purpose
23:04
Speaker 1: that would have been glad to have gone there. My
23:06
Speaker 1: question is why law enforcement is not searching the pond.
23:12
Speaker 1: The families begging them and they do nothing. I mean,
23:16
Speaker 1: Connie Goodwin, what would go through your mind? You know,
23:20
Speaker 1: the phone ping there and you can't get them to
23:23
Speaker 1: get off their rear ends and go search the pond.
23:25
Speaker 1: Exactly what at that time they was telling us that,
23:29
Speaker 1: you know that there wouldn't be nobody there, you know,
23:32
Speaker 1: coyotes in kyote dens. You know, we would led to
23:37
Speaker 1: believe that you know that my son wasn't there. That's
23:40
Speaker 1: totally yes. If your son is in the pond. Coyote
23:44
Speaker 1: is not going to swim down to the bottom and
23:48
Speaker 1: their dive equipment and get your son out. That's not
23:51
Speaker 1: going to happen. Guys, take a listen to our cut
23:54
Speaker 1: number seven, Miss Goodwin. Every day or whenever I go
23:58
Speaker 1: to town back and forth, you know, me, myself, my family,
24:02
Speaker 1: my husband, you know, we have to pass this area
24:05
Speaker 1: every day, you know, and there's not a time that
24:08
Speaker 1: goes by that you don't look over this way across
24:10
Speaker 1: the field, you know. I mean, it's it's just a
24:13
Speaker 1: sad feeling every day and it's like, how can you
24:15
Speaker 1: move on when it's always there? And I don't see
24:20
Speaker 1: why it hasn't been done already all this time? Too
24:24
Speaker 1: kind of good? When could you describe what it would
24:27
Speaker 1: be like to go by that pond every day knowing
24:33
Speaker 1: that your son's phone pained right beside that pond, but
24:37
Speaker 1: the sheriff's would not come and drain it and search
24:41
Speaker 1: for your son. What would go through your mind every
24:44
Speaker 1: day when you would drive by your heart literally break,
24:47
Speaker 1: You have a like a wrenching painting, your stomach empty cold,
24:53
Speaker 1: you know, Cheryl McCollum, When I even drive by my
24:58
Speaker 1: dad's spot at our little Methodist church at the cemetery.
25:05
Speaker 1: A lot of times I can't even stand a look
25:07
Speaker 1: at it. I can't imagine Edward's mother and father driving
25:14
Speaker 1: by this pond every day and wondering is Edward out there.
25:21
Speaker 1: It is unimaginable. It is unimaginable that anybody would put
25:26
Speaker 1: her through that. You know, I'm of the belief let's
25:29
Speaker 1: search it. If we're wrong and nothing's there, fine, we
25:32
Speaker 1: move on. We at least know where it's not. But
25:35
Speaker 1: the inaction is just astounding. I don't understand it. Joining me,
25:42
Speaker 1: special guest, Jim Acre's Coroner, Butler County. That's Popular Bluff,
25:48
Speaker 1: Missouri Medico Legal Death Investigator instructor at Missouri Corners and
25:54
Speaker 1: Medical Examiners Association. It goes on and on and on.
25:59
Speaker 1: Former Deputy ship of Detective Jim Makers, thank you for
26:03
Speaker 1: being with us. The suggestion given to the good ones
26:09
Speaker 1: that well, he's not in the pond, or coyotes got
26:16
Speaker 1: him if he was in the pond. That doesn't even
26:19
Speaker 1: make sense. How can coyotes, if he was ever in
26:22
Speaker 1: the pond, get the body. That doesn't even make sense.
26:27
Speaker 1: You're correct, that doesn't. It's hard for me to speak
26:30
Speaker 1: to that because I wasn't a part of that conversation.
26:33
Speaker 1: But that certainly doesn't doesn't bring true to what normal
26:38
Speaker 1: law enforcement response would be. And Jim Makers everyone the
26:42
Speaker 1: corner at Butler County. You've dealt with a lot of
26:47
Speaker 1: victims families, Yes, ma'am. I know that they're grieving and
26:51
Speaker 1: they're upset, and they don't understand what's happening. But they're
26:55
Speaker 1: not idiots. For Pete's sake to tell them, well, if
26:58
Speaker 1: he was in the pond, and you know, hyotes may
27:02
Speaker 1: have gotten them to tell them something that doesn't even
27:04
Speaker 1: make sense, or to delay and delay and delay. Now
27:08
Speaker 1: up to two years have passed. Yes, ma'am, families know
27:13
Speaker 1: something's horribly well, how do you deal with victims families?
27:16
Speaker 1: You've got to be honest with them, even if it
27:19
Speaker 1: hurts them, Yes, ma'am. Honesty is the only way to
27:23
Speaker 1: be from the law enforcement side and to play the
27:26
Speaker 1: devil's advocate. I've been a part of investigations where we
27:30
Speaker 1: have information and we don't want it to get to
27:32
Speaker 1: the public, and so we keep it very close. But
27:35
Speaker 1: you normally don't provide some type of a scenario that
27:41
Speaker 1: takes away hope. And I've been a part of searching
27:46
Speaker 1: funds before this one with this department, and it's a
27:50
Speaker 1: big undertaking. It's a lot of work, but you do
27:53
Speaker 1: it well. Can I tell you, mister Akers with me
27:57
Speaker 1: Jim Akers Corner, Butler County. I dived all over the
28:01
Speaker 1: world and diving in a murky pond is not easy.
28:08
Speaker 1: Very often you can't even see your hand in front
28:11
Speaker 1: of your face, So diving down into it and looking
28:16
Speaker 1: would not be the answer. It'd have to be drained,
28:18
Speaker 1: wouldn't you agree, mister Akers? Oh? Absolutely, There would have
28:22
Speaker 1: been zero visibility, and this pond was quite large at
28:27
Speaker 1: the onset they took. From what I understand, they would
28:31
Speaker 1: take a boat out on it. Google Earth still shows
28:34
Speaker 1: it as a much larger body of water than what
28:36
Speaker 1: it is today. It would have been very difficult, nearly impossible,
28:41
Speaker 1: to have mapped out the entire bottom of that pond
28:44
Speaker 1: and to have done a recovery. Drainage would be the
28:48
Speaker 1: only way. The Sheriff's department would need a search warrant
28:51
Speaker 1: or need permission from the owner to go forward with that,
28:54
Speaker 1: whereas the open field doctrine would allow you to walk
28:57
Speaker 1: through the field absolutely fun. Of course, if you don't
28:59
Speaker 1: get permission by the owners, you could always get a
29:02
Speaker 1: search warrant if you got enough PC probable cause and
29:05
Speaker 1: with the phone pinging right there, that's PC enough to
29:10
Speaker 1: search that pond. And let me ask you with me,
29:13
Speaker 1: is Jim Acres a very well respected corner out of
29:16
Speaker 1: Butler County there in Missouri and Poplar Bluff with extensive background?
29:22
Speaker 1: Connie Goodwin, how many times did you question the sheriff
29:27
Speaker 1: regarding you've got your son's phone ping right by this pond,
29:33
Speaker 1: but they won't drain it. How many times do you
29:37
Speaker 1: think you asked them to drain that pond? Hundreds? I
29:40
Speaker 1: mean hundreds, and every time you got a different excuse
29:47
Speaker 1: as to why they hadn't done it. Exactly. It was
29:50
Speaker 1: a break in the case in mid October and November.
29:56
Speaker 1: That's when everything goes to Levy and they drained partial
29:59
Speaker 1: of the and they last water in the pond. Partial draining.
30:04
Speaker 1: That's as good as you could get, but at least
30:06
Speaker 1: it's something. Guys. Take a listen now to our friends
30:10
Speaker 1: at KF the fur Cut eight new details this morning
30:14
Speaker 1: on a murder investigation that we've been following since twenty
30:17
Speaker 1: fifteen in Butler County. Corner Jim Akers confirming with us
30:21
Speaker 1: that more remains of Edward Goodwin have been found in
30:25
Speaker 1: a pond off of Route five seventy two in Butler County.
30:28
Speaker 1: Goodwin went missing in June of twenty fifteen. Ricky Hurt
30:32
Speaker 1: has been charged with first degree murdering connection with this case.
30:35
Speaker 1: The Sheriff's Department drained most of a pond where some
30:38
Speaker 1: of Goodwin's remains were first discovered. Akers says that this
30:42
Speaker 1: concludes the search. No word yet on cause of death.
30:46
Speaker 1: So after all that time, years have passed and finally
30:54
Speaker 1: a partial draining was done and some remains were found,
31:00
Speaker 1: just as you suspected. Connie Goodman tell me how that happened.
31:09
Speaker 1: There's a break in the case. And it was like
31:13
Speaker 1: two weeks later. I messages Mark Dogs and ask him,
31:19
Speaker 1: you know they're going to were they going to, you know,
31:22
Speaker 1: break the levy, but are they going to drain it?
31:25
Speaker 1: And anyway, I told him that I see that he's
31:28
Speaker 1: not doing nothing because it's been two weeks. And I
31:31
Speaker 1: told him, I said, Ben, I'll tell you what I'm
31:33
Speaker 1: going to do. I'm going to get John Bows dragging gear,
31:37
Speaker 1: whateveryone has to do. I'm going to search that pond.
31:41
Speaker 1: Hold on right there, guys, take a listen to our
31:44
Speaker 1: cut twelve from crime Online. After police unsuccessfully attempted to
31:47
Speaker 1: drain the pond last fall, Connie Engage Goodwin, the son
31:50
Speaker 1: of Edward Goodwin, decided to take care of the job themselves.
31:54
Speaker 1: They rented us some pump and took water out of
31:56
Speaker 1: the pond. Connie Goodwin, you get out out with a
32:01
Speaker 1: sap pump and you began to drain the pond yourself, right, yes,
32:09
Speaker 1: but to help them my husband and goodman, and how
32:12
Speaker 1: do you go about draining a pond with a salt pump.
32:16
Speaker 1: We had backed the truck all the way down in there,
32:19
Speaker 1: I mean Connie fitted over there and then put the
32:22
Speaker 1: hose is up there, and then we had to find
32:24
Speaker 1: something to get water out of the pond to trying
32:28
Speaker 1: to pump to get it going, and finally got going
32:33
Speaker 1: as you kept the pump until we start seeing something
32:37
Speaker 1: until Connie, I said, I know that's concrete box over too.
32:42
Speaker 1: Then when I walked on the other sun, I could
32:45
Speaker 1: tell that was a two bats sticking up there and
32:48
Speaker 1: concrete box. And a year ago that same day. I
32:52
Speaker 1: mean when we was over a year ago. I mean,
32:55
Speaker 1: Connie Gage are setting up there and just now twenty
32:58
Speaker 1: five feet in front of um, there's where ever it was.
33:04
Speaker 1: And I was talking to him that day. I find myself,
33:08
Speaker 1: So if you're in there, please let me know, me
33:11
Speaker 1: help me and let you let me find you can
33:13
Speaker 1: get you older. And you know, I just em blows
33:18
Speaker 1: your mind. I'm just trying to take in what you
33:21
Speaker 1: just said, mister Goodwin. Miss Goodwin, were you there when
33:26
Speaker 1: your son's remains emerged? Yes, what happened like a horrible thing.
33:33
Speaker 1: I told my husband, I said, let's just keep on pumping.
33:35
Speaker 1: Let's keep on pumping because we don't we can't stop
33:38
Speaker 1: and call you. I didn't want to call because I
33:41
Speaker 1: figured if I did call, and then you know when
33:43
Speaker 1: they come out, I figured maybe they can't help us
33:45
Speaker 1: to leave, and I didn't want to leave. So we
33:50
Speaker 1: kept on pumping through all the water was completely out,
33:54
Speaker 1: and that's when I called Jimmakers. Yeah, he come out
33:58
Speaker 1: and he confirmed what we've seen. Jim automatically just started
34:02
Speaker 1: taking off his shoes and the socks, and this mud
34:06
Speaker 1: was anywhere between two two and a half eat deep,
34:09
Speaker 1: I mean thick mud, suction mud where it's hard to
34:15
Speaker 1: you know, to we even walk through. And I don't
34:16
Speaker 1: I don't see how they just took off running, you know,
34:21
Speaker 1: my grandson. But we was trying to figure out how
34:26
Speaker 1: we can get out there, you know, without because they
34:30
Speaker 1: was big snapping turtles in you know, going through the mud.
34:34
Speaker 1: We seemed like anywhere between six or seven of them,
34:36
Speaker 1: you know, And I didn't want him to get hurt,
34:39
Speaker 1: and thinking, well, you know, hey, we run the corner
34:42
Speaker 1: right here, and here we are getting him hurt. You know,
34:44
Speaker 1: what did you see, miss Goodwin that made you know
34:48
Speaker 1: that was your son? We started seeing it looked like
34:52
Speaker 1: it looked like sticks and the weight at first when
34:54
Speaker 1: they started poking up, but when the water was going down,
34:58
Speaker 1: but the closer you, I mean you it was his
35:01
Speaker 1: knee bones and it looked like that they was coming
35:05
Speaker 1: up out. It looked like it was coming up out
35:07
Speaker 1: the hose at the concrete block and almost like an across,
35:11
Speaker 1: feel like it was crossed. So Jim acres with me
35:14
Speaker 1: the Butler County corner. I heard cement blocks. Do you
35:18
Speaker 1: believe Edward had been weighted down with cement blocks and
35:22
Speaker 1: thrown in the pond. Yes, ma'am. I found his tibia
35:26
Speaker 1: and fibia through the center of the cement blocks with
35:29
Speaker 1: a portion of babble I wrapped around the top of
35:32
Speaker 1: them and around the bottom and under the cement block.
35:35
Speaker 1: I found both feet well the bones, and they were
35:41
Speaker 1: completely under the center block, so they had been there
35:45
Speaker 1: in that position since shortly after he had been placed
35:48
Speaker 1: in the pond. Mister Goodwin, I heard you say that
35:52
Speaker 1: when y'all you were draining the pond, you I asked
35:57
Speaker 1: your son to help you find him? Yes, do you
36:02
Speaker 1: think he Do you think he heard you? Mancy? Can
36:07
Speaker 1: I say something? Yes? This is just breaking my heart
36:10
Speaker 1: and honey, and I'm so sorry that you guys had
36:14
Speaker 1: to go through this. No family should have to see
36:19
Speaker 1: or endure what you guys can or endure of your
36:23
Speaker 1: own child. This is a shame, Miss Goodwin. What went
36:28
Speaker 1: through your mind when you saw your son's like vines?
36:32
Speaker 1: I just started shaking. I got where I felt like,
36:35
Speaker 1: I mean, I like that I was shaking. I felt numb.
36:39
Speaker 1: I just felt like I couldn't stand. I'm shut down
36:43
Speaker 1: on the sign in the mud so that you just
36:47
Speaker 1: couldn't move, you know, and and I watched my watch
36:53
Speaker 1: gimmakers and my grands engaged, you know, Jim pulling things
36:58
Speaker 1: from them in the mud, and and seeing my grandson
37:01
Speaker 1: Edward's then, you know, to see everything and seeing him
37:07
Speaker 1: break down, it was it was bad. I hope no
37:11
Speaker 1: parent ever has to do this again. It's something that
37:16
Speaker 1: I'll never forget, and it's something that Gage will never forget.
37:19
Speaker 1: You know, he's still you know, he's hurting now and
37:23
Speaker 1: he just ain't the same as the Ladybels before ed
37:27
Speaker 1: good When what went through your mind when you saw
37:29
Speaker 1: what you believed to be your son's bones, That's just
37:32
Speaker 1: kind of hard to explain. But I stay strong because
37:36
Speaker 1: of the Gauge in Corning. You know, I just didn't
37:39
Speaker 1: want to break down myself because when Gauge is up
37:42
Speaker 1: there putting ever part Ruddy carts into kayak. He was returned,
37:47
Speaker 1: he said, and he was crying. He was trying to
37:48
Speaker 1: keep from crying. So that helped me from just working
37:53
Speaker 1: down myself, you know, knowing what he was going to
37:57
Speaker 1: getting his own dad. I'm just so sorry we've all
38:01
Speaker 1: been through. I just hate it so much. Miss Goodwin.
38:10
Speaker 1: Did you put Edward to rest? Yes? I did the
38:14
Speaker 1: day when Jim left the pond. My husband he hauled
38:19
Speaker 1: the concrete bosh for Jim in the in the byb
38:22
Speaker 1: war to his through his office, and me and my
38:28
Speaker 1: daughter engaged. We stayed there at the pond and it
38:31
Speaker 1: was just like it was just like an empty feeling,
38:34
Speaker 1: like Everard's left the villain, you know, and we got
38:39
Speaker 1: Everard remains back. You know. Do the the circumstances that
38:42
Speaker 1: I hadn't cremated because I wanted to come home. Ye'll
38:46
Speaker 1: keep you The suspects, Eldert Smith and Ricky Hirt brought
38:52
Speaker 1: to justice. As a mother and a father and a
38:58
Speaker 1: family grieve. No mother, no father, no son should have
39:07
Speaker 1: to go through what the Goodwin family has been through.
39:12
Speaker 1: But never once did the good Ones give up. Never
39:17
Speaker 1: once did mister and miss Goodwin, Connie and ed Ever
39:22
Speaker 1: stop on their mission to get justice and to bring
39:27
Speaker 1: their son Nancy Grace Crime Story signing off good bye