Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Killers Amongst Us: Real Life "Hell's Kitchen," Gorgeous Restauranteur Disappears. What happened to Dawn?

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Killers Amongst Us: Real Life "Hell's Kitchen," Gorgeous Restauranteur Disappears. What happened to Dawn? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hi, guys, Nancy Grace here, Welcome back to Killers amongst Us,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: a production of iHeartMedia and Crime Online. She had at
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: all Natalie Wooden type good looks, a wonderful husband, a
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: brand new restaurant just outside of La living the life.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: But suddenly, out of the blue, Dawn disappears seemingly into
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: thin air. What happened to Dawn and why would she
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: leave the picture perfect life? I'm Nancy Grace, Killers amongst Us.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: How does a beautiful young woman in the prime of
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: her life, she and her husband just launching a highly
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: popular restaurant, suddenly just disappear into thin air. We're talking
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: about a gorgeous woman, Dawn Vins. How does she just
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: disappear into thin air? Let's start with who is Dawn Vins?
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Joining me an all star panel to break it down
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: and put it back together again with me, Larry Altman,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: crime reporter for The d E Breeze, freelance journalist now
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Professor Forensics Jackson State University, author of Blood Beneath My
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Feet on Amazon and star on a new program Poisonous
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Liaisons on True Crime Network. Also with me. Special guests
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: David Pappin, brother of Dawn joining me out of Bradenton, Florida,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: and Dana, her sister, joining me from California. Welcome everybody.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: I want to first talk about who is Dawn Vins
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: because you know, to you, Joe Scott Morgan, you're a
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: death investigator. You've handled thousands of cases, but you gotta
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: know who you're talking about, what circles they ran, and
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: where are they from? Where are they likely to go? Right? Yeah, yeah,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: you do, Nancy, as you and I are off to say,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: in any kind of missing person's case, who has access
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: that's that is, who has familiarity with the individual. And
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: what we're trying to find out is who is Don
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Vian's Would she just take off and head to Vegas?
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Is she with a boyfriend? Did she have a lover
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: and take off to start a new life? Well, listen
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: to our friend Joe kick Casey. Don was an amazing
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: person for me when I met her, and she has
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: brought so much goodness into my life personally and others too.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: I'm sure I look around and tell you so many
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: things because of Don. She's brought many people in the
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: head has she brought so many people together? And she
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: was a wonderful person She just loved people to laugh,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: to have fun. Sadness wasn't her game. She didn't like
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: sadness very much. She liked to be happy and smile.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: So is that her personality to her sister Dana, Dana again,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. Tell me about Dawn
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: growing up? What's her personality? Joe was absolutely right there.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: She was always the happy, smiley, looking for the positive
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: side of things. You know, she was incredibly smart, incredibly driven,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: this happy, vibrant, always smiling woman that you kind of
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: wanted to be around. Where did you guys grow up, David,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: We grew up in Burlington, Vermont. Yeah, I've been there
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: to ski beautiful. So question what was her interest? How
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: did she get into the restaurant business? So I remember
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I was probably seventeen and Dawn there was a private
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: golf course called Basin Harbor and she used to go
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: up there and work there in the summertime. David, you
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: said she took this job in the food business. Was
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: that something she like? My daughter, David is a huge baker.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: After dinner, she goes into the kitchen goes, what's it
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: a baked tonight? Last night? From scratch. I don't know
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: how she did it. She made these fantastic chocolate peanut
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: butter cookies, I mean perfect, and she's been doing this
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  Speaker 1: since she was you know, nine years old. Was down
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: that way well done, you know, she definitely you know,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: my mom worked and so done. Used to babysitters a lot,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: and she would cook us dinner and things like that.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: But I think, you know, she started in a restaurant business,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: you know, just as you know, not a lot of experience.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: It was something that she could you know, get into
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: and make some money. You know, I don't necessarily think
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: food and the restaurant business early on was a passion.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: I think it was just a you know, a job
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: that developed. Now you were going to jump in Dana
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: I was. I have very clear memories of her working
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: at a place called the Ponderosa Steakhouse when she was
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: probably fifteen or sixteen, and I remember going with my
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: mom to pick her up, and David's very I think
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: it was more of a ways to have a part
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  Speaker 1: time job and to make money. She was really focused
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: on school. She was you know, honor roll part of um.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: I was trying to think of what it was called
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: when high schoolers go to Washington, like the faux United Nation.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Oh wow, like a citizenship or leadership thing. I got
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: to do that exactly. And I can't recall exactly what
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: they call it, but um, but she was. But she
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: was really smart and so yeah, it was a part
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: time job. And I don't think there was ever a
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: real passion about the restaury industry. I hear you. I mean,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: I've worked at a sandwich shop to put myself through
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: law school, but that did not mean I wanted to
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: make sandwiches the rest of my life. So I hear you.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Was it Beta Club? Jackie wants to know. Was she
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: in Beta Club? No? Um, David, you no, it was
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: a school trip. She was you know. She she was
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: a cheerleader. Um, not not a very not into sports,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: but she did cheerleading. It's a sport. Okay, well, cheerleading
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: is a sport. I'm a former cheerleader and I had
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: to work out just like the football players did. You're right, man,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: So I'm getting a picture of her. And she was very,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: very social, lots of friends. Um yeah, but there's no
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: no fourage club or any of those types of things
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: that I recall. Well, I guess the cheerleading and the
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: straight a's was. Now I'm looking at a picture of
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: her right now, what picture I'm saying. She's got beautiful
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: auburn hair down below her shoulders and a later shot
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: it looks like she frosted it. Just super super pretty.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Kind of got a Natalie Wood look to her, a
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: young Natalie Wood I'm seeing. And one of the things
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: and one of the things about Don she you know,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: we grew up and we didn't have a lot of money,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: and done very much wanted that pair of Georgash jeans.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: So an order for Don, myself, my brother, my sister.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: In order for us to get that cool new item,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: we had to go to work. You know, our mom
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: would give us or what we needed. But if we
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: wanted that cool pair of shoes or that nice pair
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: of jeans, you know, we were out there making money
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: to get them for ourselves. And she was very much
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: leading that. Oh yeah, we all worked. I remember my
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: first real job at Sears and Roebucks. I did fine
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: in the juniors department. I did fine in the candy department,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: although I nearly ate all the profits. But then when
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: they put me in power tools and lawnmoors, that was
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: a mistake. They quickly moved me back to juniors. I
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: can tell you that much. So I hear you. So
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: you guys were getting through And she just looks beautiful
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: and so bubbly and vivacious. When then she meets the
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: man off her dreams. Take a listen to our friends
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: at id. Done and David actually met while working at
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: a hotel in Vermont. He's working in the kitchen, she's
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: working the door as the hostess. Don is beautiful, she
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: is petite, but she is big on personality. The two
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: of them hit it off together. It's putting to friends,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: fell madly in love. After a few years, Done and
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: David marry and decided that time is right to strike
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: out on their own. They go to the Gulf Coast
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: of Florida and they open a little eatery called Beach
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: City Market and Grill. They understood the restaurant business. Don't
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: you want to paint on a larger canvas? What do
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: you mean California? Do you want to go to Hollywood?
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: They want the glitz, they want the glamour, They want Hollywood.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: They did a renovation on it. It was closed for
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: a couple of months and when it reopened. They had
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: the new name Time Contemporary Cafe. The place is an
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: instant hit with local gifts, good reviews. It's got great food.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: What was a team effort between the two running the restaurant.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: It was a winning combination everybody with me, our Dawn's
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: brother and sister, David and Dana. You mentioned I think
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: you said big basin. Is that where she meets the
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: husband and they fall in love A basin harbor? Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: they send harbor in Vermont, I think you said, yes, ma'am.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: And they fall in love, they marry and then take
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: off for the Gulf Coast of Florida. Now where was it, Dana,
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  Speaker 1: On the Gulf Coast of Florida. A little island called
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Anna Maria south of Tampa. I know exactly where it is.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: My husband has done a lot of business down in
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: the Tampa area and I would fly from Court TV
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: in New York down there to meet him. And you
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: said Anna Maria island, right, yes, ma'am. What was the
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: name of there? Was that where they did Beach City Market?
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  Speaker 1: And girl, that is beautiful that I was just a wonderful,
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  Speaker 1: gorgeous Yeah, oh man, And you know what to you
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  Speaker 1: just got Morgan. I know you know the area well,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: because down there at Anna Maria Island, they're just beautiful
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: foliage like that. The air smells sweet because there's so
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: many tropical flowers. Yeah, it is relaxing. My wife and
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: I vacation down in that area as well, down towards
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: CS to Key, which is further south. But yeah, it is,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: and it refurbishes. It refurbishes the SOI it does. I
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: can go down there and forget about all of my trouble. Well,
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  Speaker 1: I spent a lot of time right there on Anna
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  Speaker 1: Maria Island, and it's down there, there's Longboat Key, There's
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: a group of islands right off the Florida coast. It's
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: part of the Florida Gulf and just beautiful and very
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: very quaint, wouldn't you agree, Dana, Because there's all these
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: little niche restaurants and boutiques and shops, because the villages
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: are really small, and I could just see that restaurant,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: beach city market and grill. So then they moved to California, right,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: it moved back to California. They moved back to California. White,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: How have I missed it? They were in California. The
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: original mooved California. Happened in about ninety three. Now they
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: meet at Basin Harbor, they marry, and we're all romance.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: I thought they went to the Golf Coast. Then you're
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: telling me that they went to California first. California happened first. Yeah,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: they had been in California for probably about four years
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: when they got married, and then about a year later,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: I think a year or so later, they went to
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: so I guess they were missing California a bit. So
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: the couple, deeply in love, head back to California. But
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: what do we know about Lameda where they transplant. Take
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: a listen to this our friends at CBS. Flomita is
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: a small, sleepy suburb of Los Angeles. It has a
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: nickname that people don't like, which is SLOWMDA. Larry Altman
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: is a reporter for the local paper, the Daily Breeze
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: and the CBS news consultant. He says, there's usually not
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: much news in Lomita. It's one of the lowest crime
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: rates of the fifteen or sixteen cities that I cover.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: And joining me right now that reporter now freelance journalist,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Larry Altman. Larry, thanks so much for being with us.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Tell me about Lomita. Why would they choose to move
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: to Lomita. Lomita is in a nice area of southern California,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: in the Los Angeles area. It's kind of a small
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: town within the big city and a nice place to live,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: not too far from the ocean, and probably a good
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: place to do business. How close is it to La, Well,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: it's within Los Angeles County, but it's probably about twenty
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: five miles from downtown Los Angeles. Ah. So do people
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: go from LA to Loomita, for instance, for dinner? Because
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine with everything they got going on in La,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: you would drive to Lomita for dinner. What was the
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: lure of going there to launch their new restaurant. Well,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: that's a nice place to live, and you would attract
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: the local community living in the suburbs, and probably a
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: nice place you could walk to for dinner. I would
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: think it's it's right there within the center of the town.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: What do we know about their restaurant, Larry? It was popular,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: It had good reviews, people enjoyed the food. I heard
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: it was a really nice place to go. Let's take
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: a listen to this. And I always thought he was
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: the best ship. I'd never tasted any food that was
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: that good. David had the most beautiful plates. It was
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: an art to him. Anytime that you went to that restaurant,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: you was determined that you would leave happy. It was
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: just an amazing place to go. And then you meet down.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: She's very personally, very friendly, loves everybody. I always really
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: liked she loved my dad, and I know they loved
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: each other. There they seemed happy, really, the two deeply
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: in love. Launching a new restaurant in a new place,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: a sleepy little town Low Meda, California, also called Slow Meta.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: What did you know of her feelings and her frame
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: of mind at the time to you, Dana, at that time,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: when they had just opened the place, they were working
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: really hard. She was really excited about it, because you know,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: that became such an interral part of their life and
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: their relationship. It's their working relationship. Larry was right there, Joe,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: you know, called it. Everyone loved to be around her.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: She made everyone feel welcome and made you feel special.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: So they were excited to be back in business. Honestly,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: you know, I've seen that dynamic. Joe Scott Morgan when
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: the husband and the wife are a team together with
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: a restaurant, with a family owned business, really raising your children,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: and that kind of takes over the relationship. The goal
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: is in this case, the restaurant advancing the restaurant, and
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: you're both on this ride with long hours and restaurants.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: You know, you work hard, but you play hard. It's
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: a fun place to be. I could just see it
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: all unfolding. Yeah, and boy, do you get to find
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: out everything about a person. You know, a normal marriage
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: we think about that, you know, in normal circumstances. But
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: then you put this together with working twenty four seven
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: with one another. You're doing the books, you're doing the bills,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: you're playing the menus, and then you know, how are
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: you going to take care of the kids and get
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: them to everything? It is totally dependent upon total love
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: and teamwork and commitment. But seemingly these two very very
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: committed to each other. Take a listen to our friend
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Richard Slessinger. It's very, very charismatic. He walked into a
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: room and you knew he was there. David Pappen was
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: just a kid when his older sister Dawn began dating
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: vans who worked in the same restaurant where Dawn waited tables.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: It was very passionate about his food. We would have
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Sunday dinners him and I and Don, and when it
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: was a spectacle to have him in the kitchen, I
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: never ate so good in my life. Very charismatic. He
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: walked into a room and you knew he was there.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: David Pappen was just a kid when his older sister
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Dawn began dating Vans who worked in the same restaurant
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: where Dawn waited tables. It was very passionate about his food.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: We would have Sunday dinners him and I and Don,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: and when it was a spectacle to have him in
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: the kitchen, it's so good in my life. So what
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: about that day? Would tell me about that, because that's
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: a memory I have growing up. Every well, my mom,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: between all of us, we would sit down to dinner
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: together every night of the week, and on Sundays, that
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: was the big thing. My mom would be working on
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: it the night before, we all would be pitching in
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: getting everything ready. On Sunday morning, when I would wake up,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: I could smell whatever it was cooking at seven o'clock
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: in the morning, and when we would get home from church,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: there would be a big meal with lots of people
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: invited every single Sunday, relatives, friends, everybody there for Sunday lunch.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: And those are some of the best memories of my life.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: And that kind of sounds this way. What about that.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: You said they would have Sunday dinners together and he
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: made these incredible meals. Tell me about it. Sure, so
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: they usually started off, you know, I when they bought
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: the restaurant in Anna Maria, I was in I was
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: in Lamida, California, working for David's mom who lives there,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: and I helped Don and David travel back to the
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast with all their stuff, and then immediately I
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: fell in love with that, so I went. I left
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: my job in Lamida and I went to Anna Maria
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: to be with those guys and to help open Beach
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: City Marketing grill. And yeah, during the construction, you know,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Monday through Saturday, we were working trying to get everything ready,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: and Sunday's life. Yeah, we would just relax, invite some
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: friends over, and you know, he would cook whatever was
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: on his mind, whatever he was trying to get ready
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: for the restaurant. What was his style? Italian Beach fake contemporary.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: What you know, I would say, you know a lot
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: of his you know, we did a lot of seafood
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: obviously right on the Gulf. You know, we had every
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: every vendor coming in with you know, thirty pound grouper's
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: hole and he'd buy the whole thing. So we had,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: you know, lots of seafood. But he did, like an
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: American traditional type food just elevated the melo incredible, just
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: just every your normal, everyday food just brought up the
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: you know, to the next level. Dan, I hear you
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: in the background, Champion David Right, His whole kind of
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: stick was comfort food done really really well. Um. Everything
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: was just elevated a bit more. But he made things
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: that you knew that were familiar and that you didn't
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: know could taste that good. He was very talented. Like
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: what one of his most popular was, um um, one
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: of my chicken dish day of the Pope chicken pop pies.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: You know that's funny that that that that memory they
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: because I can tell you what my mom made on Sundays.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: She would make a roast beef fried chicken, a meat love.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: I mean she would always have her go tos and
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: it would be plenty for everybody. But there was something
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: about the way she did it which is so good,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: and I remember that it really sticks in my mind.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: So where did your sister Dawn fit into this scenario?
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's the great chef. Where does she fit in? David? So,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: on the other restaurants that I visited, you know that
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: they had owned, she was always greeting customers. She was
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: always making sure everyone glass was full. She was she
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: was the front of the house. So David and his
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: staff would be in the back sweating in the kitchen,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: and Don would be up there just making sure everyone
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: everyone was having a great time. And she trained me
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: to do the same thing at Beach City Mark and Grill.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: She took a step back and did more of the
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: day to day stuff, the financing, and taught me, you know,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: the front of the house business. So but that's normally
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: where she would be would be, you know, making sure
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: everybody was having a great time. I can see that dynamic.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: They had the picture perfect marriage. But take a listen
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: to Richard's lessenger. Local businessman Joe Kacasey. His motorcycle repair
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: shop was across the parking lot from Vians's new restaurant
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: where Dawn was the hostess who charmed the locals, great personality.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: I just thought she was a lot of fun and
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: I loved her. She's really cool. Vian's began to confide
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: in Joe that Dawn drank a lot, something Jackie saw firsthand.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: I remember waking up and she being a kitchen just
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: chugging a beer not a car the morning, and then
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: hide the can under the sink so that he wouldn't
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: know she'd started been drinking. Do you think she was
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: an unhappy person? I think she was just confused with
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: her wife and as to how she got to where
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: she was. You know, I think she wanted things to
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: be different. She basically just let my dad take care
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: of her her whole life. Joining me, former crime reporter
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: for The Daily Breeze and now freelance journalist, Larry Altman,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: what can you tell me about claims that Dawn developed
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: a drinking problem and was quote confused with her life.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: When I met David David was David told me that
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: his wife had had a drinking problem. You know, I
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: know I'm hearing this from the husband and from the
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: husband's daughter. That's his daughter from another relationship. But to
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Dana and David, did you think she had a drinking problem? Yes,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: it did tell me. I think it was probably about
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: ten years and prior to them returning to Lamida when
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: I really noticed it had gotten out of control. Honestly,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: and Jackie's sentiment was correct. She would, you know, hide
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: beers in her car, hide beers in her purse, and
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: sneak And that's when I knew it was an issue.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: It's because she was being sneaky about it. It just
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: breaks my heart because on the outside, David, this is
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Dawned brother. There was this happy facade of they're so
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: happy and they have this awesome hot restaurant, totally popular
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: in this beautiful area of Californian. Their dreams are coming true.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: But she's sneaking alcohol and I got to wonder why.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, did you know, David, I can honestly say that,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: you know, part of their lifestyle, part of was, you know,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: after the restaurant closes, you you know, you drink, so
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: I can attest to I don't. I never really saw
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: her sneaking necessarily, but um, you know, her and I
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: definitely drank a lot. I remember I stopped drinking in
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: two thousand and one, and she would call me from
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: time to time asking for advice on how I quit. Um.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: You know, it's almost been twenty years sober for me, UM,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: and she used to call me periodically. I don't want
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: to drink anymore. I don't want to drink and what
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: can I do? And we talked for a long time.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: But I think part of that restaurant life, UM is
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: you know, you know, there's definitely, you know, some alcohol involved.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: Like I said, I never saw it. Is this I
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: mean to you. Larry Altman, former crime reporter Daily Breeze
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: now freelance journalist. When you get off from a restaurant,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: it's not like you can go to a movie at
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: eleven o'clock at night. I mean, I've noticed. I noticed this,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: of course in New York where we live, and in Atlanta,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: that at midnight you can go buy and see maybe
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: a Chinese restaurant open, or the bar. All the bars
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: are still open. There's nowhere to go when you close
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: down the restaurant, exaid basically to a bar. And I
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: think that's a real danger restaurant workers. Larry, right, And
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: you know, Lamina is a small town too, and so
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: a lot of places would close early, and so the
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: only other place to go and drink would be at home. Yeah,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: and so all the guys, everybody at the restaurant would
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: stick around and start drinking. And somehow she develops a
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: drinking problem. And according to this friend whose businesses across
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: the street, she began to sneak alcohol, like hiding it
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: in her car. But we learned some thing else from
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: the friend across the street. Take a listen to this
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: our friends at CBS. Dawn asked Joe if he'd hold
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: on to some money for her. So there was like
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: almost seven hundred dollars, and she said, if I bring
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: more input in there. I said, yes, your spot, you
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: can put anything you one. She took him up on
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: the offer. On October eighteenth, two thousand and nine, Dawn
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: called Joe and asked to stash more money. She'd saved
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: up a thousand dollars. You want to bring it over
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: on Monday and drop it off and put it with
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: the other money. And I said, no problem. Monday came
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: and went, but Dawn never showed up either at work
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: or at Joe's Casey kept watch out of the rear
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: window of his shop. He saw Dawn's car, but never
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: saw her. After days went by, Kacasey asked David Van's
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: where she was and he said she had left him
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: after he insisted she go to rehab for her drinking problem.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: So Dawn Van's hicks off when her husband's insists she
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: go to rehab. But why was she saving up money?
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: Why couldn't she put it in the bank if she
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: wanted to have a vacation fund or a Christmas fund?
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Was it an escape fund? And what will we learn about?
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: A mystery text from her saying I'm starting over love Pixie,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Nancy Grace, Killers amongst us, signing off goodbye friend,