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Midday Missing 1 - JENNIFER WILKERSON and KELLEY BRANNON · True Crime and Wine Time

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Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Happy Fourth of July Eve. I hope everyone
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Speaker 1: has some fun planned for the fourth. Me and Double
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Speaker 1: h are having a couple of friends over, some pool
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Speaker 1: time and some cocktails. Won't be doing any fireworks, but
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Speaker 1: we will be enjoying the extra day off. Welcome to
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Speaker 1: Midday Missing, where I cover missing person cases. I am
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Speaker 1: Terry True Crime. I am half of the True Crime
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Speaker 1: Wine Time podcast team. Currently, True Time and Wine Time
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Speaker 1: Production produces the podcast True Crime and Wine Time, the
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Speaker 1: Hey Host Show with JT and Rude Boy Rudy and
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Speaker 1: the Investigation into the Disappearance of Chase Lackey, Night Court,
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Speaker 1: and of course Midday Missing. We stream live several days
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Speaker 1: a week, so be sure to subscribe to our page
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Speaker 1: so you don't miss out on anything. Now, before we
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Speaker 1: get into our new missing person cases today, I wanted
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Speaker 1: to take a minute and talk about the case that
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Speaker 1: kind of led to Midday Missing. So in February of
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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, someone reached out to me from my
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Speaker 1: high school asking me to cover the disappearance of Chase Lackey.
2:10
Speaker 1: I had already had a couple of people reach out
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Speaker 1: to me. A couple of people had already reached out
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Speaker 1: to our page, saying we should cover the case now. Typically,
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Speaker 1: I personally shy away from missing person cases because I
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Speaker 1: like to know the outcome and it breaks my heart
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Speaker 1: to think of people not knowing where their loved ones are.
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Speaker 1: So I decided to do some light research into the
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Speaker 1: disappearance of Chase Guys. I was hooked immediately, and I'm
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Speaker 1: not sure. As I said on our first episode on
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Speaker 1: the Special Investigation, I don't know if it's because he
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Speaker 1: went missing from where I grew up, or if it's
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Speaker 1: the fact that his adorable dog, Champ, looks so much
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Speaker 1: like my Josie that it made me want wanted to
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Speaker 1: know more so. Seven years ago, on July second, twenty seventeen,
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Speaker 1: Chase's family was unable to reach him. His father, Craig,
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Speaker 1: had seen him on July thirtieth in Crosby at a
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Speaker 1: softball game game, and he has not been seen since now.
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Speaker 1: On July fourth, when the family could not reach him,
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Speaker 1: they were worried and a couple of them decided to
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Speaker 1: drive over to his apartment. They found the door locked,
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Speaker 1: but they were able to gain entry into his apartment
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Speaker 1: via the sliding glass patio door. Now neither Chase or
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Speaker 1: Champ were inside the apartment. They immediately started calling everyone
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Speaker 1: that they had numbers four who they thought might know
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Speaker 1: where Chase was. On July fifth, they reported Chase missing
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Speaker 1: to the Harris County Sheriff's office. Sadly, but not surprising,
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Speaker 1: with everything we have learned since we first started investigating
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Speaker 1: this case, Harris County did very little to look for Chase,
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Speaker 1: and they never treated his apartment as a crime scene.
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Speaker 1: No fingerprints, nothing, Now, Chase's truck was in the garage
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Speaker 1: at the apartment, and the apartment did not show signs
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Speaker 1: of a struggle. Now, they did find a small amount
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Speaker 1: of marijuana and some other drug related items. They also
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Speaker 1: found other signs that Chase may be involved in the
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Speaker 1: drug business and not just a recreational user. Now, through
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Speaker 1: this Chase's family learned that he had lost his job
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Speaker 1: in January of twenty seventeen, and that his high school
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Speaker 1: and close friend Addison Guerrera, hooked him up with a
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Speaker 1: job on a pot farm in the Bay Area, California,
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Speaker 1: and that Chase was working with him to ship marijuana
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Speaker 1: in cash between Texas and California. Sadly, we know Addison
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Speaker 1: lied to the police they interviewed him, as did Chase's
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Speaker 1: other so called friend, Matt Brewer. Both have been untruthful
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Speaker 1: with the police and the family, and after us launching
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Speaker 1: the investigation and going live, we have received a lot
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Speaker 1: of tips pointing to Addison and Matt knowing exactly what
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Speaker 1: happened to Chase. Today, both have refused to talk to us,
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Speaker 1: except for you know, Matt's little funny call to me
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Speaker 1: that you can find on our Facebook page. I mean,
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Speaker 1: I think that they, in anywhile that else involved are
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Speaker 1: hoping that we're going to get bored and move on. Well, guys,
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Speaker 1: they're wrong. Chase's parents, Craig and Debbie, and all of
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Speaker 1: Chase's family deserve to know what happened to Chase and
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Speaker 1: where he is and for him to be brought home.
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Speaker 1: If it's his remains. At this point, they still deserve
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Speaker 1: to have that so they can bury him. Okay, Now
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Speaker 1: we know that Chase was texting with the friend on
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Speaker 1: July first in the evening, and a neighbor saw him
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Speaker 1: outside of the apartment on the second of July, and
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Speaker 1: that Champ was outside with him. Now we also know
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Speaker 1: that Matt Brewer told police he had not seen Chase
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Speaker 1: in a bit, but Matt and Chase's cell phone pinged
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Speaker 1: and were together that weekend he went missing. Because we
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Speaker 1: don't know the exact date he went missing, we can't
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Speaker 1: say how soon it was, but Matt Lyede said they
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Speaker 1: weren't together that weekend, but they were. Now I'm going
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Speaker 1: to ask everyone you can go watch our YouTube videos
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Speaker 1: covering Chase's disappearance, or you can listen to the podcast
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Speaker 1: episodes wherever you get your podcasts. We also have some
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Speaker 1: cute little videos that were posted on Facebook last year. Now,
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Speaker 1: I wanted to share some exciting news that I think
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Speaker 1: will help us solve this mystery. For Chase's family. Dateline
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Speaker 1: has a series they do called Missing in America. I
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Speaker 1: had reached out to them a couple of times last
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Speaker 1: year suggesting they look into Chase's disappearance, not from a
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Speaker 1: podcast standpoint, but just from a friend of the family
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Speaker 1: and the stars aligned, and they are interested. They will
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Speaker 1: be releasing an article about Chase's disappearance in the very
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Speaker 1: near future. So I am going to suggest you all
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Speaker 1: keep an eye on their site at NBC dot news
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Speaker 1: dot com, backslash Missing hyphen in hyphen America, or you
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Speaker 1: can just google it dateline and Missing in America Now.
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Speaker 1: I found an article that said that in the ten
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Speaker 1: years that they have been doing Missing in America, that
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Speaker 1: that of the more than five hundred people they have covered,
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Speaker 1: only two hundred and eighteen are still missing. I mean, guys,
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Speaker 1: two teams still missing. Is very sad, but it gives
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Speaker 1: me hope that this exposure will help the Lackey family. Also,
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Speaker 1: our hopes at True Crime and Mine Time is that
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Speaker 1: Missing in America will see a lot of traffic to
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Speaker 1: their site, a lot of interaction with the article, a
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Speaker 1: lot of it being shared, and consider it for a
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Speaker 1: full dateline episode. So, Josh Keith, I ask you to
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Speaker 1: take a look into Chase's case and consider covering it.
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Speaker 1: It is a crazy story, a lot of twist turns, lies, deceit,
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Speaker 1: There's a lot of stuff there. And I personally think
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Speaker 1: your audience would be very interested in this case. And
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Speaker 1: I think they're going to be interested when it's solved.
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Speaker 1: And I think a lot of things are going to
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Speaker 1: come to light about these so called friends. Now, seven
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Speaker 1: years is too long for any family to not know
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Speaker 1: what happened to the child, Okay, or their brother, their uncle,
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Speaker 1: the team at True Crime and Wind Time are dedicated
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Speaker 1: to helping the Flacky family bring Chase home. We are
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Speaker 1: committed to getting them the answers they deserve, because guys,
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Speaker 1: they need to start healing. I know if I go
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Speaker 1: to bed and think of Chase and if I cry
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Speaker 1: for Chase, that isn't even probably half of the percent
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Speaker 1: of what his family is going through. So once again
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Speaker 1: I'm going to say, if you have any information regarding
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Speaker 1: the disappearance of Chase Slackey, you can call our private
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Speaker 1: tip line at five one two five, five three nine
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Speaker 1: four eight four. If you want to remain anonymous, please
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Speaker 1: hit Star sixty seven. That way, your phone number is
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Speaker 1: hidden completely, we can't go behind the scenes and find it,
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Speaker 1: and you truly stay anonymous. So I just wanted to
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Speaker 1: say that it's been seven years. My heart goes out
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Speaker 1: to Craig, Debbie, all of Chasi's brothers and sisters and
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Speaker 1: the whole family that I know this time of the
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Speaker 1: year has got to be so hard for you. Just
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Speaker 1: know that all of us at True Crime and Wine
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Speaker 1: Time Productions will continue trying to do everything we can
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Speaker 1: on our part to help you get the answers that
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Speaker 1: you deserve. Now, now we're going to go into our
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Speaker 1: first case. Jennifer Wilkerson now Jennifer Lynn Wilkerson, was born
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Speaker 1: on December ninth, nineteen seventy seven, in Hobbes, New Mexico,
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Speaker 1: and went missing on July thirteenth, two thousand and four,
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Speaker 1: at the age of twenty six in Lubbock, Texas. Okay, guys,
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Speaker 1: I was shocked to see this come up because I
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Speaker 1: lived in Hobbes, New Mexico for a very short time,
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Speaker 1: a couple of months, so I was like, Hey, I
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Speaker 1: know Hobbs, New Mexico, and of course most everybody knows Lubbock, Texas.
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Speaker 1: But Jennifer was last seen on July thirteenth, two thousand
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Speaker 1: and four, at her boyfriend's home, where she had spent
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Speaker 1: the previous night. Jennifer woke up as normal, left to
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Speaker 1: go to her house to shower and go to work.
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Speaker 1: All very normal when you spend the night over at
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Speaker 1: a boyfriend's or a friend's house. Jennifer worked, but she
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Speaker 1: was also attending college at South Plains in Lubbock. Now
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Speaker 1: it appears that Jennifer did make it home, but she
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Speaker 1: never showed up to work for her shift. Her friends
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Speaker 1: and family were immediately concerned when hearing she did not
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Speaker 1: show up at work because she was very reliable about
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Speaker 1: going to school and to work. Now, her family went
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Speaker 1: to her home where they found her car parked outside
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Speaker 1: her house, key's and car keys hanging inside the house,
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Speaker 1: and all of her other belongings were found in the
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Speaker 1: house except for her purse, which was missing along with Jennifer.
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Speaker 1: So her family reported her missing on July fourteenth, two
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Speaker 1: thousand and four. Now, Jennifer's roommates and boyfriends were interviewed
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Speaker 1: and her boyfriend passed two separate lie detector tasks. Police
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Speaker 1: said they have all been cleared in her disappearance and
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Speaker 1: they are not persons of interest or suspects. Now police
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Speaker 1: are looking for a suspicious vehicle that was seen and
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Speaker 1: maybe involved in her disappearance. It's a small black truck
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Speaker 1: that is low to the ground and how it's decal's
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Speaker 1: in the back window. Guys, there was no description of
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Speaker 1: the driver that I could find anywhere, but to date,
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Speaker 1: neither the vehicle nor the driver have been found. Now
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Speaker 1: the police do believe that her disappearance is highly suspicious
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Speaker 1: and are working the case as an abduction. So please
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Speaker 1: continue to follow up on any and all leads that
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Speaker 1: come into their office, and they are still holding out
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Speaker 1: hopes to find Jennifer. And as I have said, it
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Speaker 1: seems like hundreds of thousands of times, I still believe
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Speaker 1: to this day that it is extremely rare for someone
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Speaker 1: to go missing and know one to see what happens,
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Speaker 1: or for someone not to run their mouth and tell somebody.
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Speaker 1: I mean, call me naive, call me gullible, whatever I
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Speaker 1: want to say. Ninety nine percent of the time somebody
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Speaker 1: sees or hears something. People do not just go missing
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Speaker 1: and a spaceship come down and get them. Because she
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Speaker 1: went home. You know, there's evidence she got there. Her
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Speaker 1: car was there from her boyfriends, so something been there,
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Speaker 1: and her keys were inside the house, but her purse
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Speaker 1: was gone, so definitely agree with police. Somebody came in
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Speaker 1: and did something to her. Now, Jennifer's friends and family,
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Speaker 1: you know, we're very active in trying to low ca
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Speaker 1: her and run a Facebook page called Jennifer Wilkerson Missing.
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Speaker 1: Jennifer has several tattoos, a red rose with a snake
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Speaker 1: on her left upper arm and shoulder, a small lady
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Speaker 1: buck on her neck, the word rotten, and a butterfly
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Speaker 1: on her back and a dragon that wraps around her
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Speaker 1: right ankle. Guys, I reading that, I was like, I've
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Speaker 1: often said maybe I should get a tattoo that says
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Speaker 1: spoiled rotten. And then reading this, I was like, can
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Speaker 1: you see my missing person things? Saying, Okay, Terry has
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Speaker 1: an elephant on her right ankle, she has a heart
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Speaker 1: with wings that says love on her lefe shoulder, and
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Speaker 1: then she has a Chinese love symbol on her pulvis
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Speaker 1: area along with her last name tattooed, and she has
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Speaker 1: spoiled rotten. They would be like, this is a conglomeration
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Speaker 1: of total missed up things. But anyway, if you have
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Speaker 1: any information regarding Jennifer Wilkerson, please call the Lubbott County
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Speaker 1: Sheriff's Office at eight zero six seven seven five seven
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Speaker 1: zero zero nine. Sorry, guys, throw it's a little dry now.
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Speaker 1: If you want to follow more missing person cases in Texas,
15:41
Speaker 1: I would recommend you follow Lost in Texas on Facebook.
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Speaker 1: They have done an amazing job of keeping the people
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Speaker 1: missing in Texas out in the public's mind. They have
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Speaker 1: not only been great with sharing Jennifer's stuff, they continually
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Speaker 1: share the information about Chase Lackey, and I know I
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Speaker 1: am very grateful every time I see that they re
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Speaker 1: share Chase's stuff. And when I'm researching cases for Midday Missing,
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Speaker 1: they are one of the places I go to reason
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Speaker 1: why I find they're factual. They are accurate because when
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Speaker 1: you're looking into cases, you find everybody says different things
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Speaker 1: and it's kind of hard to find out what is
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Speaker 1: actually factual. So if you want to follow them, I
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Speaker 1: would say follow them. They are a great page to follow. Now,
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Speaker 1: this next case is going to take us from Texas
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Speaker 1: to Florida, and it's a very interesting case. It's one
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Speaker 1: of those that if I didn't have to work full time,
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Speaker 1: and I'm sure if JT didn't have to work full time,
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Speaker 1: it would be one of those cases that we would
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Speaker 1: want to investigate because it's just interesting. So Kelly Brannon
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Speaker 1: was a musician and activist when she went missing on
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Speaker 1: July fifteenth, twenty twenty, and live Oak, Florida. So Kelly
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Speaker 1: and her boyfriend Eddie Emerson were traveling from a small
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Speaker 1: town outside of Gainesville, Florida, to Detroit, Michigan. They had
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Speaker 1: decided they wanted to start their lives over and it
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Speaker 1: was going to be a new chapter. They each set out,
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Speaker 1: following each other in their own cars. Now, shortly into
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Speaker 1: their trip, Eddie encountered car trouble, so the couple had
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Speaker 1: to find a mechanic to work on the car. I
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Speaker 1: believe it was a transmission, so the couple had to
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Speaker 1: camp out for a couple of days and wait. So
17:47
Speaker 1: they literally went and camped out for a couple of
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Speaker 1: days waiting on the car to be repaired. But after
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Speaker 1: getting frustrated being hot with camping, they decided to check
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Speaker 1: into the Sunshine In Hotel and Live Oak, Florida. Now
18:04
Speaker 1: checking into the hotel was supposed to help them cool
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Speaker 1: off a little bit more comfortable, but it did not
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Speaker 1: do those things because they got into a fight over
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Speaker 1: where the chickens would stay. So they had chickens and
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Speaker 1: dog traveling with them. Kelly wanted to bring the chickens
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Speaker 1: inside the hotel. Were through and you know, bring the chickens, right,
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Speaker 1: Eddie thought they should stay outside because he said it
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Speaker 1: was going to be too much having chickens and the
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Speaker 1: dog inside. And he found a place outside that there
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Speaker 1: was shade and that he felt the chickens would be okay. Well,
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Speaker 1: Kelly didn't agree, but they kind of made up for
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Speaker 1: a little bit, but then some of the chickens got
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Speaker 1: out and the fight got bad again. Eddie said that
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Speaker 1: Kelly was very drunk and crying, and he says he
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Speaker 1: didn't try to soothe her, but he did reach over
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Speaker 1: and take her keys off of her belt and told
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Speaker 1: her she can't drive in her condition. And he went
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Speaker 1: back into the hotel room and locked the door. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: just left her out there. The couple continued to fight
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Speaker 1: via text messages and phone calls over the next couple
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Speaker 1: of hours. Now you can find online Eddie has shared
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Speaker 1: some of those text messages. You can find the last
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Speaker 1: voicemail that we're getting ready to talk about out there.
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Speaker 1: They're interesting to say the least. Like I said, they
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Speaker 1: continued arguing. He said Kelly was threatening to leave, and
19:45
Speaker 1: based on his account, she was getting drunker and drunker.
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Speaker 1: He didn't say if she was continuing to drink or
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Speaker 1: if just everything she drank, you know, was getting into
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Speaker 1: her system. Now, Kelly left a final voice smail. Because
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Speaker 1: Eddie was just trying to sleep, he stopped responding, stopping
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Speaker 1: inswering the calls, and when he woke up, the next morning,
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Speaker 1: he got a voicemail that she left around one am
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Speaker 1: on July fifteenth, And this is what the voicemail said.
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Speaker 1: You know I'm sick of your abuse. Oh I'm getting
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Speaker 1: in a car right now by that's the voicemail he got. Now,
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Speaker 1: when police started looking into this, witnesses say they lost
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Speaker 1: all Kelly walking outside the hotel where she had been
20:36
Speaker 1: staying with her boyfriend. Kelly left without any identification, money,
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Speaker 1: or her other personal items, except for her beloved guitar
20:45
Speaker 1: which she slung over her back, and a cell phone. Now,
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Speaker 1: the voicemail said she was getting into a car, but
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Speaker 1: Eddie had taken her keys, so her car was at
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Speaker 1: the hotel, so we don't know whose car she was
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Speaker 1: getting into. Now. The next morning, when Eddie got this voicemil.
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Speaker 1: Whenie woke up, he said he'd got in her car,
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Speaker 1: drove around Live Oke and was looking for Kelly, but
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Speaker 1: he didn't find her, so he went to the police
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Speaker 1: and reported her missing. Now, they had been in live Oake,
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Speaker 1: Florida for a couple of days. While waiting on the car,
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Speaker 1: they had gone to restaurants, out to a couple of bars,
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Speaker 1: so it's possible she had met somebody. Kelly was a
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Speaker 1: person who had traveled internationally, hitchhiked. I mean, she really
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Speaker 1: got out and saw the world and with her music,
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Speaker 1: her writing, she had experienced a lot of things and
21:42
Speaker 1: she was a people person, so that is possible. However,
21:47
Speaker 1: when police started talking to friends and family of Kelly,
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Speaker 1: the police learn that Kelly and Eddie had a very
21:54
Speaker 1: tumultuous relationship, and they even found police reports nine one
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Speaker 1: one calls for domestic violence between the two in the past,
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Speaker 1: so that makes it a little more suspicious. Now, Eddie
22:10
Speaker 1: did stay in Live Oak for several days looking for Kelly.
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Speaker 1: Then he decided he need to continue on his way.
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Speaker 1: So I found two different statements. One I found said
22:24
Speaker 1: he took her car, drove up to Massachusetts where his
22:28
Speaker 1: parents lived, but kept looking for Kelly online. Then I
22:32
Speaker 1: saw one that said he waited for his car to
22:35
Speaker 1: be fixed and he just left Kelly's car behind. So
22:39
Speaker 1: once again that's media. I can't tell you which one's
22:42
Speaker 1: right or wrong. But he did go back to Massachusetts, okay,
22:48
Speaker 1: but to live with his parents, cause you know that's
22:52
Speaker 1: what you do. I guess now he did go back
22:57
Speaker 1: to Live Oak, Florida about four months later and he
23:00
Speaker 1: did some more looking for Kelly. Now, there have been
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Speaker 1: reports of Kelly called in, but none that police could
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Speaker 1: positively say were Kelly, so they were not from people
23:13
Speaker 1: who knew her. Police have said there are six persons
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Speaker 1: of interest in her disappearance, one of course being her
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Speaker 1: boyfriend Eddie, and then five other people who were staying
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Speaker 1: at the motel that night. So I found that a
23:33
Speaker 1: little interesting. Now. Also, when police started looking into this,
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Speaker 1: they found that Eddie had been outside walking around as well,
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Speaker 1: But I could not find where. They said was it
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Speaker 1: before she went missing or after she went missing? In
23:48
Speaker 1: other words, did he lie about going to sleep? I
23:51
Speaker 1: couldn't find that. But if they're still saying he's a
23:54
Speaker 1: person of interest, it makes me suspect that they haven't
23:58
Speaker 1: released all the information, which makes sense. Now. Eddie has
24:03
Speaker 1: continued to deny having anything to do with Kelly's disappearance.
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Speaker 1: He has been interviewed repeatedly over hours, and he's still
24:11
Speaker 1: sticking to his story. Police have conducted over fifteen ground
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Speaker 1: searches in the area using dogs and drones, and not
24:21
Speaker 1: that they've released to the public or any police files,
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Speaker 1: they have not found anything that leads to her whereabouts.
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Speaker 1: So this broke my heart. Sadly, Kelly's only living relative
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Speaker 1: was her mom, Christine Chris Brandon, and she passed away
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Speaker 1: on October seventh, twenty twenty three, without ever finding her
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Speaker 1: daughter or learning what happened to her. Kelly and her
24:53
Speaker 1: mom were very close. They said they were mother daughter,
24:58
Speaker 1: but they were friends. Kelly's friends and police are more
25:02
Speaker 1: determined than ever to find out what happened to Kelly.
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Speaker 1: They are not going to let her disappearance just go
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Speaker 1: by the wayside. Because Kelly no longer has any living
25:13
Speaker 1: family to search for her, her friends are going to
25:18
Speaker 1: keep the search going. She has friends from school, I
25:22
Speaker 1: mean we're talking twenty five thirty years kind of thing.
25:26
Speaker 1: Then she has people she met on her travels, in
25:29
Speaker 1: her activism stuff that she's done. She knew a lot
25:34
Speaker 1: of people and all of the stuff I read, she
25:39
Speaker 1: wouldn't just go off on her own and not let
25:42
Speaker 1: her friends know where she is. So that tells you
25:49
Speaker 1: they also suspect something happened to her. So to learn
25:54
Speaker 1: more about Kelly, you can follow the missing Kelly Brannon
25:58
Speaker 1: page on Facebook and if you have any information regarding
26:03
Speaker 1: Kelly or her disappearance. Please contact the Liva Police Department
26:08
Speaker 1: at three eight six three six two two two two two. Guys,
26:15
Speaker 1: this broke my heart more than usual when I learned
26:17
Speaker 1: Kelly's mom died unexpectedly. As like I said, everything I
26:22
Speaker 1: read talked about how close they were. I can't imagine
26:27
Speaker 1: worrying and wondering where your child is and then you
26:34
Speaker 1: die not knowing what happened to your only child. So
26:42
Speaker 1: we need to help give that closure now. Depends on
26:48
Speaker 1: what your beliefs are. If Kelly was killed, I'm sure
26:52
Speaker 1: she was up there waiting for her mom and they
26:55
Speaker 1: are together, but she could be kidnapped and held somewhere.
27:01
Speaker 1: We've heard about it so many times, so please still share.
27:07
Speaker 1: We need to get the word out now. I decided
27:11
Speaker 1: to end today with a disappearance that ended with the
27:18
Speaker 1: happy outcome and a story of probably one of the
27:23
Speaker 1: bravest young girls I have ever heard of, read about,
27:30
Speaker 1: and I wish I could meet her as an adult.
27:34
Speaker 1: So Erica Pratt was kidnapped while playing outside with her
27:39
Speaker 1: sister on May twenty second, two thousand and two, in Philadelphia.
27:45
Speaker 1: She was seven years old, so they were outside playing.
27:51
Speaker 1: Car pulled up two men get out call her name.
27:56
Speaker 1: They grab her put her in the trunk of the car.
27:59
Speaker 1: Erica was bound with tape and taken to a vacant
28:03
Speaker 1: house and held. They had taped her hands together, her
28:07
Speaker 1: feet together, and they put a blindfold over her. Now, guys,
28:13
Speaker 1: like I said, this is a brave, freaking little girl.
28:18
Speaker 1: Erica couldn't hear anything. It sounded quiet, so she started
28:25
Speaker 1: chewing through the tape bindings on her hands. She's seven,
28:32
Speaker 1: and she had the wearwithal to chew the tape on
28:36
Speaker 1: her hands, which tells you They put her hands in
28:39
Speaker 1: front of her, thinking, oh, it's a child, she's not
28:41
Speaker 1: gonna do anything right, So she got the tape off
28:45
Speaker 1: of her hands. She then removed her blindfold and untaped
28:51
Speaker 1: her legs. So she then started looking around. She was
28:58
Speaker 1: in a basement. She was filling around. There was a
29:01
Speaker 1: couple of small windows. So she broke out one of
29:05
Speaker 1: those small windows and began screaming for help. And it
29:10
Speaker 1: was her lucky time because two boys were outside playing
29:15
Speaker 1: They heard her. They came over and helped pull her
29:19
Speaker 1: out of the window and then flag down an officer
29:22
Speaker 1: that was nearby. Guys, this is just the day after
29:28
Speaker 1: she was taken. So within twenty four hours, this seven
29:32
Speaker 1: year old girl toothed through the tape on her hands,
29:37
Speaker 1: busted out a window, got saved, and got home. Now
29:44
Speaker 1: police were already looking for two men who they were
29:49
Speaker 1: suspected were involved because the family received a ransom note
29:55
Speaker 1: wanting one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Now everything I said,
30:00
Speaker 1: this was a area, lower middle class family. Six figures
30:07
Speaker 1: they didn't have sitting around, So the family was like,
30:09
Speaker 1: what in God's tarnation we don't have one hundred and
30:12
Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars. Well, there was a rumor that a
30:16
Speaker 1: family member had died and that one hundred and fifty
30:20
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty thousand dollars was left in a
30:23
Speaker 1: life insurance policy. So James Burns and Edward Johnson had
30:28
Speaker 1: decided they were going to kidnap Erica and get one
30:32
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty thousand dollars because they heard the family
30:36
Speaker 1: had come into this insurance money. Now, there are some
30:41
Speaker 1: stories that these men knew the family, that knew somebody
30:46
Speaker 1: in the family, so it's not like they were total strangers.
30:49
Speaker 1: The family hasn't said exactly how they knew them, but
30:55
Speaker 1: she was saved within twenty four hours, and guys, she
30:58
Speaker 1: saved herself. Now, I think of because I'm a crazy person,
31:04
Speaker 1: if someone kidnapped me, I try to think through what
31:07
Speaker 1: would I do? What would my first thing? Or when
31:09
Speaker 1: I'm watching Dateline or I'm watching scary movies, I'm like, oh,
31:13
Speaker 1: you idiot, don't just sit there do this. But then
31:16
Speaker 1: I also tell myself, you're in shock that you've been taken.
31:20
Speaker 1: I truly don't know what I would do. I hope
31:23
Speaker 1: I would be smart enough to try to get out,
31:26
Speaker 1: but I don't know, and I would think that it
31:28
Speaker 1: would take me more than twenty four hours to get
31:33
Speaker 1: up the courage to do something. So when I say
31:37
Speaker 1: this seven year old was amazing, she's amazing. Now. She
31:42
Speaker 1: was given the Courage Award by the Attorney General of
31:45
Speaker 1: Philadelphia in two thousand and three for her amazing bravery,
31:49
Speaker 1: and I hope that she got some money with that
31:56
Speaker 1: or a college scholarship. Couldn't find that. I think I
32:01
Speaker 1: found her as an adult, but I'm not sure, so
32:04
Speaker 1: I'm not going to share that information. But the men
32:07
Speaker 1: who kidnapped her were found guilty and sentenced to prison. Now,
32:12
Speaker 1: the getaway driver, which was James I believe his name was.
32:17
Speaker 1: Doesn't matter that he got fourteen to forty nine years
32:23
Speaker 1: and then the main kidnapper got ten to thirty seven
32:26
Speaker 1: because they were tried separately. I mean the driver got
32:31
Speaker 1: fourteen to forty nine and the guy that put her
32:35
Speaker 1: in the trunk got ten to thirty seven. Please explain
32:38
Speaker 1: to me why that is. Why? Why did the man
32:43
Speaker 1: who did the kidnapping got less than the guy who
32:47
Speaker 1: drove Somebody tell me, okay, but not often is there
32:57
Speaker 1: an ending like this one. And I have to say
33:00
Speaker 1: I am highly impressed with a seven year old girl
33:05
Speaker 1: and Erica. I hope wherever you are, that you are
33:10
Speaker 1: living your best life and that you know inside how
33:16
Speaker 1: strong you are because to be able to overcome the
33:19
Speaker 1: fear you must have been feeling and using that to
33:23
Speaker 1: help you escape, I think it is going to get
33:26
Speaker 1: you very far in life. So I wanted to share
33:30
Speaker 1: that because not often do abductions turn out with this
33:36
Speaker 1: kind of ending. So that's my stories for today. So
33:42
Speaker 1: I want to thank you all for joining me. I
33:44
Speaker 1: look forward to seeing you all again on Monday for
33:47
Speaker 1: our next episode of Midday Missing. The Heyho Show will
33:53
Speaker 1: be Live with JT and Rudeboy on Friday night. Thursday morning,
34:00
Speaker 1: j will be releasing the trial transcripts for the HH
34:04
Speaker 1: Holmes trial. I hope you all have a safe and
34:08
Speaker 1: happy Fourth of July. Be sure to wear sunscreen, drink
34:12
Speaker 1: water in between those summer cocktails. Most everybody has to
34:16
Speaker 1: still go to work on Friday. Now. You can also
34:21
Speaker 1: catch our other productions on our channel, so be sure
34:25
Speaker 1: to subs subscribe so that you can get notified. If
34:30
Speaker 1: you want to interact with us in our amazing community,
34:34
Speaker 1: you can join the Courtyard on Discord and even me,
34:39
Speaker 1: this old relic is learning how to function in Discord
34:44
Speaker 1: and it is truly a fun place to hang out.
34:49
Speaker 1: And just a reminder just next Thursday, can you believe it?
34:54
Speaker 1: Next Thursday, July eleven, JT and I will be streaming
35:00
Speaker 1: from Denver, Colorado for the True Crime and Wine Time podcast.
35:06
Speaker 1: We will also do some other things live, but that
35:09
Speaker 1: is the one that is scheduled and we know one
35:12
Speaker 1: hundred percent that we will be doing. And JT better
35:17
Speaker 1: get his button gear and he better be ready. If not,
35:22
Speaker 1: he better drink a whole lot so he can blame
35:25
Speaker 1: it on the alcohol. So like I said, be sure
35:30
Speaker 1: to subscribe to our channel on YouTube, or you can
35:35
Speaker 1: listen on any place that you get your podcast. So
35:40
Speaker 1: until next week, guys, I want you to stay safe,
35:44
Speaker 1: watch out for crime, enjoy your wine time, but please
35:48
Speaker 1: be sure to wear that sunscreen tomorrow and stay safe
36:17
Speaker 1: to