Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / SUBURBAN PLAINFIELD BEAUTY VANISHES FROM "EXERCISE CLASS:" WHERE IS LISA?

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SUBURBAN PLAINFIELD BEAUTY VANISHES FROM "EXERCISE CLASS:" WHERE IS LISA? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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Speaker 1: Bombshell tonight. Plainfield Beauty vanishes from exercise class. Really tonight,
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Speaker 1: Where is Lisa? Good evening? I Nancy Grace, this is
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Speaker 1: crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us.
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Speaker 2: Lisa Stevik is a fun, loving, vibrant mother of too
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Speaker 2: from Plainfield, Illinois, until she mysteriously vanishes from her home,
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Speaker 2: leaving behind her car while her person cell phone disappear
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Speaker 2: with her.
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Speaker 3: Beck of Lisa's head, I got the back of your head.
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Speaker 4: Any birthday, Happy second birthday.
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Speaker 5: It was Monday. She left home here supposedly to go
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Speaker 5: work out. You know, as far as I know, somebody
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Speaker 5: picked her up in come Tuesday morning to go to work.
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Speaker 5: She wasn't here.
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Speaker 6: Many of the people detectives have interviewed have stressed Lisa's
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Speaker 6: love for her children and have insisted that Lisa would
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Speaker 6: not have left home without them. In the last several months,
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Speaker 6: there have been no activity on her cell phone, credit cards,
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Speaker 6: or her checking account. As a result everything learned in
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Speaker 6: this investigation, detectives are now focusing on the scenario that
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Speaker 6: she most likely is a victim of foul play.
1:30
Speaker 1: From our friends at WLSNCLTV. Tonight, Where is Lisa Stabbick.
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Speaker 1: The mystery goes on, But I, for one, do not
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Speaker 1: believe she vanished from exercise class. Should that to Dave
1:46
Speaker 1: Matt Crime Stories investigative reporter, What do we know about
1:49
Speaker 1: the night and we think it was the night she
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Speaker 1: went missing?
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Speaker 7: What we know is that Lisa Stabeck went to her
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Speaker 7: regular job like normal, came home from her job at
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Speaker 7: the school, and she was at home for several hours
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Speaker 7: and then left to go exercise.
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Speaker 1: Who says she left to go exercise, Dave Mac.
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Speaker 7: Her husband, Craig Stavik, is the one who says he
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Speaker 7: was in the backyard. He didn't actually see her leave.
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Speaker 7: He heard her leave, and they had two children, ten
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Speaker 7: and twelve years old, who were also not home at
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Speaker 7: the moment, so they didn't see her leave either. But
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Speaker 7: Craig's step.
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Speaker 1: Okay, right, whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa? Too much information,
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Speaker 1: it wants, Dave Mac. As you well know, preparing for
2:38
Speaker 1: a trial or in any investigation, you take each fat
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Speaker 1: and then you determine what that one fat can prove.
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Speaker 1: How probed it is that one fat? First of all,
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Speaker 1: are you telling me I don't have an eyewitness to
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Speaker 1: her leaving the home to go to exercise class.
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Speaker 4: That's a yes, no, please, yes, absolutely.
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Speaker 1: So, Well that was two words. But that said, I've
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Speaker 1: got what we call an ear witness. The husband says
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Speaker 1: he heard her leave. Is that correct? Yes?
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Speaker 4: No, yes?
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Speaker 1: Where was the husband when he hears Lisa leave?
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Speaker 7: He was in the backyard.
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Speaker 1: Backyard. Oh oh, is this like that sound that's so
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Speaker 1: high frequency only dogs can hear it. Because he's saying
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Speaker 1: he's in the backyard and he hears her footsteps going
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Speaker 1: out the front door. Help me out, Dave mac.
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Speaker 7: That is what he is suggesting. Craig Stevick says he
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Speaker 7: was in the backyard doing whatever and he heard his
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Speaker 7: wife Lisa leap.
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Speaker 5: It was Monday, she left home here supposedly to go
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Speaker 5: work out, and as far as I know, somebody picked
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Speaker 5: her up in come Tuesday morning to go to work.
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Speaker 5: She wasn't here.
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Speaker 1: Well, okay, so he's in the backyard working. I wonder,
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Speaker 1: working on what And he, with his acute sense of hearing,
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Speaker 1: here's her tiptoeing out the front door. So she must
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Speaker 1: have gone to exercise class on foot.
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Speaker 8: It's as if she vanished off the face of the earth.
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Speaker 8: Her car was left in the garage. Her purse and
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Speaker 8: her phone were with her or missing with her. There
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Speaker 8: was no activity on her credit cards or her phone
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Speaker 8: from the moment that she went missing.
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Speaker 1: That sound you're hearing from our friends at WLS and
4:30
Speaker 1: joining me two very special guests Melanie Greenberg, this is
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Speaker 1: Lisa's very dear cousin and Commander Kevin McQuaid joining us
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Speaker 1: out of Plainfield. And earlier I said, Commander that this
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Speaker 1: is suburban Plainfield. But isn't it true that the location
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Speaker 1: where Lisa and the husband were living is on the cusp.
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Speaker 1: It's right there at the beginning of beautiful farmland, which
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Speaker 1: would be rural, is it not. That's correct, That's significant.
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Speaker 1: That means something to me. Commander Kevin McQuay. By the way,
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Speaker 1: mcwad twenty four years in l E law enforcement. I
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Speaker 1: bet you've seen a thing or two. Commander. The reason
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Speaker 1: I'm curious and I always ask about the location and
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Speaker 1: the topography, the geography of the area, is because when
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Speaker 1: somebody goes missing in downtown Manhattan, where I live nearly
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Speaker 1: fifteen years, that happens all the time, and you've got
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Speaker 1: several million suspects in a rural suburban area such as Plainfield.
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Speaker 1: Not true at all. When was Lisa first reported missing,
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Speaker 1: Commander Kevin mccuad.
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Speaker 4: We got a call on Tuesday, May first, at a
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Speaker 4: round ten o'clock in the morning.
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Speaker 1: Hold it, hold everything, Commander McQuaid. Did I not just
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Speaker 1: hear the husband, Craigstavi state that she was not here
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Speaker 1: on Monday? Whoa? He didn't say she left on Monday,
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Speaker 1: that she quote wasn't here on Monday day? Back it up.
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Speaker 1: Did anybody see her alive on Sunday?
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Speaker 4: Yes? Okay, yeah, she was last seen at approximately six
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Speaker 4: pm on Monday the thirtieth.
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Speaker 1: Okay, now I find this very curious, Commander. She's last
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Speaker 1: seen six pm Monday, but she's not reported missing until
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Speaker 1: Tuesday at ten am.
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Speaker 4: Commander, that's correct. Why that's a great question. You know,
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Speaker 4: according to Craig, Lisa would would leave at you know,
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Speaker 4: in the evening times to go work out or go
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Speaker 4: out with friends and stuff, and when not come home
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Speaker 4: until late. She was always home in time to take
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Speaker 4: the kids to school. But this time, according to him,
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Speaker 4: she did not come home.
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Speaker 1: Okay, see right there, I have a problem, Commander McQuaid,
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Speaker 1: because even by his account, she comes home to sleep.
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Speaker 1: I also find it very difficult that this loving mother
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Speaker 1: of several children, I believe they were ages ten and
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Speaker 1: eleven or eleven and twelve. That's just when they start
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Speaker 1: doing things like going outside on their bicycles at ten o'clock.
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Speaker 1: Crazy things like that, like getting on the internet on
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Speaker 1: sites they're not supposed to be, And that's when you
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Speaker 1: need to be there. You think, as they Oh, a baby,
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Speaker 1: I have to feed the baby.
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Speaker 4: It needs me.
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Speaker 1: Wait a minute, Oh, it's a toddler's going to crawl
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Speaker 1: up the shelf and fall and break its neck. It
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Speaker 1: needs me. See as they advance, they need you just
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Speaker 1: as much, but for different reason. And so the husband's
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Speaker 1: telling us that she would routinely leave and stay gone.
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Speaker 4: All night, correct, that she would go out, and she'd
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Speaker 4: be gone for a good part of the night and
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Speaker 4: come home late.
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Speaker 1: H So he didn't notice, he didn't wake up in
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Speaker 1: the night and look over and see an empty pillow
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Speaker 1: beside him. That never happened. He must be a very
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Speaker 1: sound sleeper, Commander.
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Speaker 4: I don't believe they were sleeping in the same rooms
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Speaker 4: at that time.
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Speaker 1: Oh the things we learn when we ask the right question.
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Speaker 1: Isn't that true. Commander correct to Melanie Greenberg, joining me,
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Speaker 1: this is a very dear cousin. This is not a
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Speaker 1: second cousin. Twice removed all that, this is a cousin
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Speaker 1: that has been leading the search for Lisa. Melanie Greenberg,
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Speaker 1: let me understand Lisa Stevick would leave the children to
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Speaker 1: stay out all night.
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Speaker 9: But I think what's he is? Who her missing? It
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Speaker 9: was not Craig. It was her neighbor, Laurie from down
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Speaker 9: the street, who when Craig called her that morning, said hey,
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Speaker 9: where's Lisa? And she had she had known there was
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Speaker 9: trouble in the marriage, they were going through a divorce.
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Speaker 9: We looked at the house. All the blinds were drawn
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Speaker 9: in the morning, which she thought was very unusual and strange.
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Speaker 9: And she was the one that called the Plainfield Police
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Speaker 9: and reported Lisa missing. Lisa had told her children, if
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Speaker 9: anything ever happens to me, go to my neighbor, my
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Speaker 9: good friend, Lorie's house. The children didn't you know that.
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Speaker 9: We didn't in the family know that there was such
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Speaker 9: a contentious divorce going on. And as Commander McQuaid mentioned,
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Speaker 9: they were not sleeping in the same room, they were
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Speaker 9: sharing the same house, but Lisa was actively trying to
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Speaker 9: divorce from her husband, Craig. She was sleeping on the
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Speaker 9: ca ouch with her purse close by her. Yes, it
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Speaker 9: was her routine to go work out in the evening
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Speaker 9: when Craig returned to work, but she went to a
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Speaker 9: local exercise place where she would drive. Well, her car
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Speaker 9: is left in the house, in the garage, So how
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Speaker 9: does that make any sense? If she was going for
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Speaker 9: a run or a walk, why would you take your purse?
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Speaker 9: That doesn't make any sense. What's missing? You know, it's
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Speaker 9: only our you know. All we have is his word
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Speaker 9: that she left to go exercise. The children were sent
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Speaker 9: to a nearby grocery store to get candy late in
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Speaker 9: the afternoon or at dinner time, which also doesn't make
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Speaker 9: any sense to me. So they weren't at home when
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Speaker 9: she went missing. The key fact is the day that
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Speaker 9: she went missing, she talked to her lawyer that morning,
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Speaker 9: her divorce attorney, and she had received papers from him
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Speaker 9: to initiate the process a petition to have Craig evicted
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Speaker 9: from the home, and she mailed those that day. So
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Speaker 9: did she we don't know. Did she and Craig have
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Speaker 9: a discussion about those papers? That day. I think that
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Speaker 9: is one of the most salient facts of the timing
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Speaker 9: of when she went missing. She was trying to have him,
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Speaker 9: petitioning to have him evicted from your marital home.
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Speaker 1: Miss Greenberg. I'm going to follow up on everything that
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Speaker 1: you just said, But in answer to my original question,
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Speaker 1: do you have any knowledge, any personal knowledge at all,
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Speaker 1: that Lisa would go out and stay out all night
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Speaker 1: leaving her children at home? No?
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Speaker 9: I mean, this is a devoted mother. She would never
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Speaker 9: leave her children. And it was the school morning, why
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Speaker 9: she would be there to get the kids ready for school?
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Speaker 9: There were ten and twelve.
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Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, hold on right there, that's another thing
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Speaker 1: for me to jump on it. I want to jump
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Speaker 1: on it right now. GG McKelvey joining me, investigative journalist,
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Speaker 1: a star of Pretty Lies and Alibi's podcast. GG. So
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Speaker 1: I'm supposed to believe that this mother, we have no
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Speaker 1: history at all of her leaving and staying now out
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Speaker 1: all night. Not that that is probative evidence, but that's
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Speaker 1: what we're being told that she often stayed out all night,
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Speaker 1: and therefore the husband wasn't concerned when she didn't come home.
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Speaker 1: She didn't stay out all night that was Sacho Saint
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Speaker 1: for me. I never missed drop off or pick up
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Speaker 1: because I loved it. I centered everything around it so
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Speaker 1: I would be there. This mom always got her children
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Speaker 1: ready for school and took them to school without deviation.
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Speaker 1: Is that what I'm supposed to believe?
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Speaker 3: Gg McKelvey, Well, it stinks to high heaven, and you
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Speaker 3: have to consider the source, which is for a strange husband.
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Speaker 3: So I'm like you, I never miss pick up or
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Speaker 3: drop off. It seems like this was totally out of
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Speaker 3: character for her, and how convenient that you know it
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Speaker 3: only came from him, the guy who has never been
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Speaker 3: named a suspect but a person of interest. Clearly from
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Speaker 3: the very beginning of this case. I think it benefits
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Speaker 3: his story, his version events trying to divert attention away
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Speaker 3: from him and maybe place the blame on her, which
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Speaker 3: is very typical in these kinds of situations.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, basically making her out to be there, let's just
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Speaker 1: not mince words, Okay, making her out to be a
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Speaker 1: big that's what he's doing. Okay, Fine, if he disagrees
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Speaker 1: with me, he can come on and tell me that
13:42
Speaker 1: he meant something entirely different. But he did not take
13:46
Speaker 1: us up on an offer to join us that said,
13:49
Speaker 1: I'm about to go to doctor Bethany Marshall Renow Psycho Alice,
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Speaker 1: but first Commander Kevin McQuaid special guests joining us tonight
13:58
Speaker 1: along with cousin Melanie Mberg. Commander, you know what routine
14:03
Speaker 1: evidence is, And I don't mean typical evidence, like there's
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Speaker 1: some sort of run of the meal evidence that's not true.
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Speaker 1: All evidence is critical to me a trial lawyer. When
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Speaker 1: I say routine evidence, I mean evidence of routine. So
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Speaker 1: I never miss taking my twins to school or picking
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Speaker 1: them up. I have to be out of town or
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Speaker 1: in the hospital before I miss that. That is my
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Speaker 1: longstanding routine. It would be a cold day in HGBL
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Speaker 1: that John, David and Lucy step out in the pickup
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Speaker 1: line and I'm not there, carpool queen, That's what I'm saying.
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Speaker 1: That's her routine. So it should have sounded all sorts
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Speaker 1: of alarms when Lisa Stebbeck was not there to take
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Speaker 1: her children to school, Yet she was not reported missing
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Speaker 1: until much later on mid morning, and it wasn't by
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Speaker 1: the husband then who took them to school.
15:01
Speaker 4: Commander Craig did take them to school that day. He
15:06
Speaker 4: actually went into work late that day and dropped them
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Speaker 4: off at school. He had called the neighbor asking if
15:11
Speaker 4: she knew where Lisa was, and then I believe and
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Speaker 4: he had also called her work and left a message
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Speaker 4: asking if they knew where Lisa was. But Craig is
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Speaker 4: the one that took him to school that morning.
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Speaker 1: Can I say, Commander Kevin mcquae place, Commander, please do
15:33
Speaker 1: not take the camera off. Commander Kevin mcquaide, zoom in.
15:40
Speaker 1: I want to look at his demeanor. Commander, would you
15:44
Speaker 1: repeat what you just said? Who took the children to school?
15:49
Speaker 1: And how often had daddy ever taken the children to
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Speaker 1: drop off?
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Speaker 4: So that morning, on the first Craig did take them
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Speaker 4: to school, and to our knowledge, that was the first
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Speaker 4: time that he had done that.
16:03
Speaker 1: You're amazing, you know that because you just said that
16:05
Speaker 1: with totally straight face. I mean, I'm doing a backflip
16:09
Speaker 1: to cousin Melanie Greenberg. So we've established that she did
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Speaker 1: not stay out all night long, and even if she did,
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Speaker 1: that is irrelevant. Probatively, that's just some type of character assassination.
16:22
Speaker 1: What can you tell me as to what you know
16:26
Speaker 1: about when she went missing? What was missing? And the
16:31
Speaker 1: nature of their relationship. Who slept with, who where.
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Speaker 9: So we didn't know how troubled their marriage was until
16:39
Speaker 9: we spoke to neighbors and her close friends after she
16:43
Speaker 9: went missing. We learned that while they were sharing the home,
16:47
Speaker 9: they were not sleeping in the same room. She was
16:50
Speaker 9: sleeping on the couch, and she had her phone and
16:53
Speaker 9: her purse close to her at night. She would never
16:58
Speaker 9: have left her children. She was there to take them
17:01
Speaker 9: to school every day. In fact, she worked in their
17:03
Speaker 9: school in the cafeteria, So we didn't understand how troubled
17:11
Speaker 9: it was. We learned later that she was in contact
17:14
Speaker 9: with a domestic abuse shelter in a nearby town. She
17:18
Speaker 9: was taking the children for counseling there as she was
17:22
Speaker 9: trying to separate herself from her husband. She confided in neighbors,
17:29
Speaker 9: but she didn't confide in the family of how bad
17:33
Speaker 9: her marriage was. And she had in the last year
17:39
Speaker 9: before she went missing, she had lost forty pounds. She
17:42
Speaker 9: was working on herself. She had gotten a tattoo of
17:45
Speaker 9: a butterfly because she was going through a metamorphosis and
17:49
Speaker 9: wanting to start a new life. And you know, it's
17:55
Speaker 9: really sad that we didn't know how troubled she was.
17:59
Speaker 9: And you know, if she had reached out, you know,
18:02
Speaker 9: there's all the what ifs. What if she had let
18:04
Speaker 9: us know how bad things were? How couldn't our family
18:08
Speaker 9: have helped her? But we didn't know, We didn't learn
18:11
Speaker 9: how bad things were for her until after she went missing.
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Speaker 1: Are you did you just tell me she slept with
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Speaker 1: her purse?
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Speaker 9: Yes?
18:20
Speaker 4: Yes?
18:22
Speaker 1: Where did she sleep on the.
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Speaker 9: Coach in the living room?
18:27
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, she slept on the sofa and he
18:30
Speaker 1: slept in the bed?
18:32
Speaker 9: Yes?
18:36
Speaker 1: Straight out to Doctor Bethany Marshall, renowned psycho analyst joining
18:40
Speaker 1: us out of Beverly Hills. She is a star on Bravo, Peacock, Hulu, Netflix,
18:49
Speaker 1: author of deal Breakers, and she is the star of
18:52
Speaker 1: a Hitney podcast On the Couch with Doctor Bethany Marshall.
18:57
Speaker 1: You can find her at doctor Bethany Marshall dot com. Bethany.
19:03
Speaker 1: When I would have a witness like you, I would
19:06
Speaker 1: prepare them for my direct examination and their ultimate cross exam.
19:13
Speaker 1: But that was feudile. What they were really doing, with
19:16
Speaker 1: their vast knowledge, was preparing me to help me formulate
19:19
Speaker 1: the questions to throw to them, so they could give
19:23
Speaker 1: their opinion in the best manner possible. So I'm just
19:27
Speaker 1: going to throw you the ball and let you run
19:30
Speaker 1: with it. Let's just start with her sleeping on the
19:32
Speaker 1: sofa with her purse.
19:36
Speaker 10: You know, Nancy, this is very typical of domestic abuse.
19:40
Speaker 10: Domestic violence victims google any domestic violence website, call a hotline,
19:47
Speaker 10: and the number one thing that they will tell the woman,
19:50
Speaker 10: because usually the woman is the victim, is to keep
19:53
Speaker 10: your purse, cash, identification, and all important papers near you
20:00
Speaker 10: when you sleep. Why because if there's an incident in
20:04
Speaker 10: the night and you need to leave, oh, and your keys,
20:08
Speaker 10: if you need to leave, you need to have everything
20:10
Speaker 10: right on you in case you need to run out
20:14
Speaker 10: of the door. Okay, So that to me, that's very
20:17
Speaker 10: very important. So it's interesting that he's in the marital
20:21
Speaker 10: bed but she's on the sofa. I think she's probably
20:24
Speaker 10: placed herself on the sofa so she can leave if
20:27
Speaker 10: she needs to. The fact that the children are in
20:30
Speaker 10: counseling at a domestic violence center, I think is very
20:34
Speaker 10: interesting because that tells me that they have witnessed violence,
20:38
Speaker 10: and so she's taken them to a shelter where there
20:41
Speaker 10: are counselors who are very well schooled in helping children
20:46
Speaker 10: who witness domestic violence. The fact that he says that
20:50
Speaker 10: she didn't return in time for work the next day,
20:54
Speaker 10: and that he called the neighbors and work to see
20:57
Speaker 10: where she was, and I think he's really creating an
21:00
Speaker 10: alibi in that case. And so all these things, you know,
21:04
Speaker 10: stand out to me. I think the other fact for me, Nancy,
21:08
Speaker 10: is that he says she was out all night. What
21:13
Speaker 10: woman who has young children, as you said earlier, and
21:17
Speaker 10: has that bond with the children, would stay out all
21:20
Speaker 10: night In some ways, he's trying to paint her out
21:23
Speaker 10: to be like a whore or somebody who's just like,
21:27
Speaker 10: you know, sexually flagrant in some way. And I can't
21:31
Speaker 10: imagine that this is what was happening in this home.
21:35
Speaker 1: Not a mom that never misses job off a pickup
21:38
Speaker 1: and drives to another town to have her children go
21:42
Speaker 1: to counseling. Not a mom that exercises religiously and is
21:48
Speaker 1: having a metamorphosis of sort in her life. Gets a butterfly,
21:53
Speaker 1: a tiny little butterfly tattoo to remind herself that she
21:58
Speaker 1: is coming out of the cocoon from being a Chrystlas
22:03
Speaker 1: to a beautiful butterfly. Her life is changing, it's getting
22:07
Speaker 1: better and better. And at that exact moment things turned
22:14
Speaker 1: because to my understanding, Melanie Greenberg, that very day, the
22:20
Speaker 1: day she disappeared, and her husband with his excellent hearing,
22:27
Speaker 1: his K nine hearing senses in the backyard, here's her
22:30
Speaker 1: go out the front door that very day. Isn't it
22:34
Speaker 1: true she was seeking to have him evicted?
22:38
Speaker 9: That's true. She spoke to her lawyer that morning and
22:42
Speaker 9: she had received petition to have Craig evicted from their home,
22:47
Speaker 9: and she had mailed it to back to her attorney
22:50
Speaker 9: that day. I mean, we don't know if she had
22:53
Speaker 9: a conversation with Craig or if he saw the papers
22:56
Speaker 9: that day, but to me, that is a very important
22:59
Speaker 9: point in the timing. That is the day that she
23:03
Speaker 9: went missing, the day that she initiated the process to
23:08
Speaker 9: have Craig evicted from their home.
23:11
Speaker 1: Did I hear either Melanie cousin, Melanie Greenberg or Commander
23:15
Speaker 1: Kevin McQuaid. Did one of you say that she worked
23:19
Speaker 1: in the school cafeteria. I mean talk about scrubbed in sunshine,
23:24
Speaker 1: this is the lunch lady.
23:28
Speaker 9: Yes, she worked in the school cafeteria, and so she
23:33
Speaker 9: worked during the day again, and she worked hours so
23:37
Speaker 9: that she could be home with her children before and
23:39
Speaker 9: after school. She did not you know, there's been no
23:45
Speaker 9: activity on her cell phone, on her credit cards. This
23:48
Speaker 9: was a woman who had very little money. I was
23:52
Speaker 9: had to learn how little money was left in her
23:55
Speaker 9: in her bank account when she went missing.
23:58
Speaker 1: She was really.
24:00
Speaker 9: She was struggling, but she was trying to make a
24:03
Speaker 9: change in her life, to divorce her husband. But she
24:07
Speaker 9: had no you know, she was trying to have him
24:10
Speaker 9: a victory from the home, that she could keep the
24:12
Speaker 9: stable life after divorce for her children, that they could
24:15
Speaker 9: stay in the neighborhood, they could go to the same school.
24:19
Speaker 9: That's what she was trying to do.
24:21
Speaker 1: How much was in her account, Melanie.
24:25
Speaker 9: I don't know exactly, but it was under two hundred
24:27
Speaker 9: dollars in her account at the bank.
24:30
Speaker 1: You know, Bethany, I just want to cry, and I'll
24:34
Speaker 1: tell you why. On so many levels. You know, when
24:39
Speaker 1: I had the twins, their birth was a miracle, right.
24:42
Speaker 1: I wanted to be around them so much. I volunteered
24:47
Speaker 1: at their pre school, elementary school, and middle school to
24:51
Speaker 1: work in the library. Always at the time they would
24:55
Speaker 1: have their mid morning break and they could run out
24:58
Speaker 1: on the playground, or they could return library books, and
25:03
Speaker 1: I would sit there and act like I was putting
25:06
Speaker 1: away books, waiting for one of them to just walk in,
25:11
Speaker 1: because they knew I was there volunteering. And here she
25:16
Speaker 1: is working in the school cafeteria. I mean that lady
25:21
Speaker 1: did not stay out all night.
25:24
Speaker 10: She did not, Nancy. I remember when you told me
25:26
Speaker 10: you were pregnant. You remember how you told me we
25:28
Speaker 10: were on Court TV and you wrote it on a
25:33
Speaker 10: piece of paper. You're like, I'm pregnant with twins because
25:35
Speaker 10: you didn't want the control room to hear because nobody
25:38
Speaker 10: knew yet, And it was such happy moment I will
25:42
Speaker 10: never ever forget. I feel like crying right now. Anyway,
25:45
Speaker 10: This is such a sad story because Nancy, you and
25:48
Speaker 10: I both know that women are at the greatest risk
25:51
Speaker 10: for domestic homicide as they are about to leave a relationship,
25:56
Speaker 10: their chances go way way up. So the fact that
26:01
Speaker 10: she had actually served him with an eviction notice and
26:05
Speaker 10: she goes missing, Nancy, that's not coincidental. And for any
26:10
Speaker 10: of our viewers or listeners, who are you following this story.
26:16
Speaker 10: That's the time we really have to be careful about
26:20
Speaker 10: what harm could befall you is when you are about
26:24
Speaker 10: to leave our relationship. And Nancy, a mother like her,
26:29
Speaker 10: is not going to stay out all night long. And
26:31
Speaker 10: the fact that she had her own bank account with
26:35
Speaker 10: less than two hundred dollars in it means that there
26:39
Speaker 10: were no shared resources between her and her husband. So
26:43
Speaker 10: it's not just domestic abuse and potential domestic homicide, but
26:48
Speaker 10: financial abuse as well. And all these these syndromes go
26:52
Speaker 10: hand in hand.
26:54
Speaker 1: Commander Kevin mcguie joining US Plainfield PD, twenty four years
27:01
Speaker 1: in the business. You were a detective when Lisa first
27:06
Speaker 1: went missing. What do you recall? And I want to
27:09
Speaker 1: remind everyone that the husband has not been convicted, He
27:12
Speaker 1: has not been named a suspect, he has not been indicted,
27:16
Speaker 1: and under our jurisprudence system, he has a presumption of
27:20
Speaker 1: innocence protecting him unless and until the state pierces that
27:27
Speaker 1: presumption with evidence sufficient to prove him guilty beyond a
27:31
Speaker 1: reasonable doubt. Back to you, Commander, what do you recall
27:39
Speaker 1: around the time she went missing?
27:41
Speaker 4: What I do remember is within that first week Craig
27:46
Speaker 4: was somewhat cooperative with us. He was willing to be interviewed.
27:51
Speaker 4: He was willing to allow us to do in search
27:56
Speaker 4: of his house, talk to the children in But that lasted,
28:02
Speaker 4: like I said, for about a week until he stopped
28:05
Speaker 4: cooperating with the investigation.
28:08
Speaker 1: What do you mean he stopped cooperating? What does that mean?
28:12
Speaker 4: That means he would not be partaking any interviews, He
28:15
Speaker 4: would not allow his children to partake in any interviews anymore.
28:19
Speaker 4: We had asked him to take a polygraph test, and
28:23
Speaker 4: he decided He originally agreed to do it and then
28:27
Speaker 4: decided that he was not going to be doing it anymore.
28:30
Speaker 4: And then eventually we did receive a notification from his
28:34
Speaker 4: attorney that he would be invoking his Fifth Amendment right
28:39
Speaker 4: to not being not talking to us anymore.
28:46
Speaker 1: Of course, the right to remain silent is sacro sanked. However,
28:52
Speaker 1: that is in court. The prosecutor or the judge cannot
28:57
Speaker 1: comment on a defendant's choice to main silent. But look around, everybody,
29:02
Speaker 1: We're not in court, don't you know, gg McKelvey, investigative journalist.
29:08
Speaker 1: I would be lying on the courthouse steps screaming, find
29:13
Speaker 1: my husband and you remember Mark Klass the gold standard
29:18
Speaker 1: when somebody goes missing. His daughter, Polly goes missing from
29:22
Speaker 1: her own home. Mark and his wife were separated. The
29:28
Speaker 1: cops show up, and it was in the middle of
29:31
Speaker 1: a sleepover party at Polly's house. The purp came into
29:36
Speaker 1: the home, took Polly out, assaulted and murdered her while
29:39
Speaker 1: she was still missing. Before her body was found police
29:44
Speaker 1: com bamming on Mark Class's door. He says, take my fingerprints,
29:49
Speaker 1: take whatever you want. Look at all my devices, look
29:53
Speaker 1: at my car, look at my place, so you can
29:56
Speaker 1: look for the real kidnap her. That's not what is
30:01
Speaker 1: happening here. And he is not in court, and I
30:04
Speaker 1: am not the prosecutor or the judge, so I can
30:06
Speaker 1: comment on it. Why did he stop cooperating Gigi?
30:10
Speaker 3: Well, Nancy, you know the old saying, if it walks
30:13
Speaker 3: like a duck and quacks like a duck's probably a duck. Now,
30:16
Speaker 3: like you said, this is sad way that he's been.
30:19
Speaker 1: A standard of proof, But go ahead.
30:23
Speaker 3: Right, But you know, I mean it's very convenient that
30:26
Speaker 3: he has an explanation for everything. On the day she disappeared,
30:30
Speaker 3: you know, didn't report her missing and maybe he felt
30:33
Speaker 3: that investigation was getting a little too close to him
30:36
Speaker 3: and his children, who maybe could have told, you know,
30:40
Speaker 3: just hypothetically, could have told investigators, Yeah, they fought a lot,
30:43
Speaker 3: which would give a lot of, you know, reasons for
30:47
Speaker 3: them to look even deeper. So I think something spooped
30:49
Speaker 3: him there where things were getting a little too close
30:52
Speaker 3: for comfort, and he did what he had a right
30:55
Speaker 3: to do, which is just completely hush, but you know,
30:58
Speaker 3: it doesn't stop us from being able to look at
31:00
Speaker 3: that and say, why would you do that, even if
31:02
Speaker 3: you're divorcing, this is the mother of your kids. Why
31:05
Speaker 3: would you not want to do any and everything you
31:07
Speaker 3: could to help find her unless you know something that
31:10
Speaker 3: everybody else doesn't.
31:12
Speaker 1: Allegedly, Commander McQuay tell me about the search for Lisa.
31:18
Speaker 4: So during that time, you know, we conducted roughly three
31:23
Speaker 4: searches over about a two week period in and around
31:26
Speaker 4: the area of her home. We also conducted a search
31:30
Speaker 4: out of a state park that we know that if
31:33
Speaker 4: frequent in the past out in Yorkville. You know, we
31:38
Speaker 4: had hundreds of volunteers helping throughout these searches and everything,
31:42
Speaker 4: hoping to find any any type of evidence or anything
31:45
Speaker 4: that could that could lead us to finding Lisa.
31:49
Speaker 1: What if anything did you find?
31:51
Speaker 4: There was really not much evidence in terms of directly
31:55
Speaker 4: to the investigation that kind of pointed us in a
31:59
Speaker 4: direction at that point. So nothing not on the land searches, No.
32:04
Speaker 1: Well, what about other searches.
32:06
Speaker 4: We did conduct searches inside the residents. He did, like Craig,
32:11
Speaker 4: did allow us to search the residence twice, and then
32:17
Speaker 4: we did do a third search of the residents after
32:22
Speaker 4: obtaining a search warrant. We did searches of the vehicles
32:28
Speaker 4: in terms of evidence that would lead us to helping us. Fine, Lisa,
32:34
Speaker 4: I wouldn't say we really found much that would help
32:37
Speaker 4: us there, Okay.
32:39
Speaker 1: But you're hedging. I can hear you. When I say
32:42
Speaker 1: did you find anything? You said, well, not on the land,
32:45
Speaker 1: and then you said we didn't find much that would
32:47
Speaker 1: help us. What did you find? We did?
32:50
Speaker 4: We did locate her blood within the bed of his vehicle,
32:57
Speaker 4: and that we were able to match the DNA that
33:00
Speaker 4: to one of our household items inside the house, you know,
33:05
Speaker 4: And that was a vehicle that from all accounts, she
33:09
Speaker 4: did not have access or did not use. But you know,
33:16
Speaker 4: other than that, there really wasn't a lot of evidence
33:19
Speaker 4: that we located with inside the house either.
33:22
Speaker 1: Commander Kevin McQuaid, you are certainly a wily one. I
33:25
Speaker 1: ask you, did you find anything in the search? You said, no,
33:28
Speaker 1: not on the land, okay, where else? Well the residence?
33:33
Speaker 1: Did you find anything in a residence? And you're like, no,
33:37
Speaker 1: not much. Then I say what? And then you tell
33:42
Speaker 1: me her blood in the bed of a vehicle, which
33:47
Speaker 1: means a truck. And you know it's her blood because
33:51
Speaker 1: you match it to what.
33:55
Speaker 4: Her toothbrush.
34:00
Speaker 1: Melane Greenberg. Why would Lisa step it be in the
34:04
Speaker 1: bed of his pickup truck bleeding?
34:08
Speaker 9: Well, I can't tell you that. I could tell you
34:11
Speaker 9: that she was never allowed to use his truck. Now,
34:15
Speaker 9: you know, a defense attorney could say they were a
34:18
Speaker 9: married couple. You know, she could have, you know, cut
34:21
Speaker 9: her finger or something. But I will tell you that.
34:24
Speaker 9: You know, Craig was an avid hunter. In one of
34:28
Speaker 9: the searches that Commander McQuade mentioned, they recovered several fire
34:33
Speaker 9: arms from the house. You know again, Craig was an
34:38
Speaker 9: avid hunter and fisherman. He knew all the nearby state parks.
34:43
Speaker 9: He frequently took his children with him on hunting and
34:47
Speaker 9: fishing trips. He and his family owned a cabin in
34:52
Speaker 9: northern Michigan. We even we even passed out stickers on
34:59
Speaker 9: hand warmers hunting season to try to raise awareness if
35:03
Speaker 9: anyone had seen anything in upstate Michigan with the tip
35:08
Speaker 9: number on there, handed it out to hunters in case
35:12
Speaker 9: anyone knew anything up there. We were trying to leave
35:15
Speaker 9: no stone unturned. But the problem is where Plainfield is.
35:21
Speaker 9: The suburban town is on the edge of all sorts
35:26
Speaker 9: of wilderness. There's a nearby state park that Craig was
35:30
Speaker 9: very familiar with, all sorts of rurilroads roads, and she
35:35
Speaker 9: could be anywhere. She could be anywhere. Her body has
35:38
Speaker 9: never been found. Our family knows that she's dead. I
35:41
Speaker 9: don't need to know that there was blood in the
35:43
Speaker 9: bed of her truckt know that she is dead. But
35:46
Speaker 9: I believe that she is a victim of homicide, and
35:49
Speaker 9: so does the rest of our family. Craig has never
35:52
Speaker 9: been named as an official suspect, but he's always been
35:56
Speaker 9: a person of interest in this case, and I don't
36:02
Speaker 9: know if we will ever find her body. At the
36:05
Speaker 9: time that she went missing, and there had never been
36:07
Speaker 9: a successful prosecution of murder in Illinois without a body.
36:13
Speaker 9: Since that time, I think five years ago, there was
36:15
Speaker 9: a case in Peoria, Illinois where a man was convicted
36:20
Speaker 9: of murder, but they found a huge pool of blood
36:24
Speaker 9: in his storage lequer so there was very strong circumstantial evidence,
36:31
Speaker 9: and evidently whatever small traces of blood were in the
36:36
Speaker 9: bed of Craig's truck weren't enough to.
36:39
Speaker 1: Commander Kevin mcquaye. The children are no longer eleven years old.
36:44
Speaker 1: They're old enough to speak with police. Have they been
36:48
Speaker 1: reinterviewed about when their mom went missing?
36:54
Speaker 4: They have been interviewed, yes, but they did not provide
36:59
Speaker 4: much of information that would help in the investigation.
37:02
Speaker 1: Have they been living with the father this whole time?
37:04
Speaker 4: I know at one point they were. I don't know
37:06
Speaker 4: where they're living, if they're still there or not at
37:09
Speaker 4: this point. I mean they're you know, late twenty.
37:11
Speaker 1: Melanie, were they with the dad.
37:14
Speaker 9: At a certain point Craig and the children cut off
37:18
Speaker 9: contact with the rest of the family. And as you mentioned,
37:22
Speaker 9: they're adults now, but we're not in contact with them,
37:25
Speaker 9: so I don't they they were living with their father
37:27
Speaker 9: the family home was sold. I don't know where they're
37:30
Speaker 9: living now.
37:33
Speaker 1: If you know or think you know anything about missing
37:38
Speaker 1: Lisa Steppick, please dial eight one five two six seven
37:43
Speaker 1: seven two one seven or three one two four two
37:48
Speaker 1: one six seven hundred. There is a seventy five thousand
37:54
Speaker 1: dollars reward for information leading to the discovery of what
38:01
Speaker 1: happened to Lisa Stebbiic. We remember an American hero Officer,
38:06
Speaker 1: Donna Fitzgerald, Florida Department Corrections, killed in the line of duty,
38:12
Speaker 1: leaving behind son Kyle, sentenced to life without mom. American
38:19
Speaker 1: Hero Officer Donna Fitzgerald. Thank you to our guest, but
38:23
Speaker 1: especially to you for being with us as we continue
38:26
Speaker 1: the search for missing mom Lisa Stebbick. Nancy Gray signing
38:32
Speaker 1: off for tonight, but I'll see you tomorrow night, and
38:34
Speaker 1: until then, good night, friend,