Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / DNA from Hair Connects Billy Jack Lincks to Morgan Nick’s 1995 Disappearance

Transcript

DNA from Hair Connects Billy Jack Lincks to Morgan Nick’s 1995 Disappearance · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Ever get this feeling like some mysteries are just kind
• 0:02
  of waiting, you know, waiting for us to catch up,
• 0:05
  Like the pieces are all out there somewhere. And that's
• 0:08
  what gets me about the Morgan nick case.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Oh absolutely in this case. Gosh, it's like it's been
• 0:13
  frozen in time, right nineteen ninety five, a little league
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  game in Alma, Arkansas.
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  Speaker 1: A little girl six years old, vanishing, just like that, gone.
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  Speaker 2: And for years, decades even, it seemed like there was nothing,
• 0:27
  no new leads, no breakthroughs.
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  Speaker 1: And now suddenly this case everyone's talking about.
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  Speaker 2: It's back all these years later, and it's all because
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  of the incredible things they can do with DNA.
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  Speaker 1: Now the technology's finally caught up with the mystery. Huh.
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  So for all those years investigators had so little to
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  go on. What changed?
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  Speaker 2: Well, a name surfaced, a name that's got everyone's attention,
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  Billy Jack Lynx.
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  Speaker 1: But here's the thing I gotta bite. What's the thing?
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  Speaker 2: Links died in prison back in two thousand. So you're
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  trying to solve a mystery decades old, and the guy
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  who might hold the answers, he's gone.
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  Speaker 1: WHOA talk about a cold case heating up so we're
• 1:01
  talking about a ghost essentially in a way.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we have to figure out if he's the
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  ghost that haunts this case.
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  Speaker 1: And what are we working with here? Do we even
• 1:10
  know much about this?
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  Speaker 2: Lend states We know he served in World War Two,
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  worked for Braniff Airlines in Dallas for a while, eventually
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  moved back to Arkansas.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, And that's it just an average life?
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  Speaker 2: Then, Well that's what they're trying to figure out, right,
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  I mean, was it average? There's this one detail. It's
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  almost like it's been there all along, just waiting to
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  be noticed. A red pickup truck.
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  Speaker 1: A red pickup truck, like a clue.
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  Speaker 2: Witnesses at the ballpark that night they remember seeing one
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  parked near where Morgan disappeared.
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  Speaker 1: Hold on, so this truck, it becomes important later.
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  Speaker 2: It's more than important. It might be the key.
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  Speaker 1: See.
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  Speaker 2: In the weeks leading up to Morgan's disappearance, there were
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  these reports people saying they'd seen a man in a
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  red pickup truck approaching kids.
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  Speaker 1: Wait, are you serious? That's chilling.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And guess what.
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  Speaker 1: Tell me it can't get worse?
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  Speaker 2: Thinks he owned a red pickup truck. A nineteen eighty
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  six Chevrolet Scottsdale with a camper shell, just like the
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  witnesses described.
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  Speaker 1: Oh manned. Okay, now we're getting somewhere. So they find
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  this truck.
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  Speaker 2: Then what they find? Blood on the seat and get
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  this blonde hairs.
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  Speaker 1: This is where the DNA comes in. They must have
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  those hairs this whole time.
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  Speaker 2: They did, and they were finally able to test them.
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  And you're not gonna believe this. Tell me the DNA results.
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  They came back as a match to either Morgan Nick
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  herself or a very close relative.
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  Speaker 1: That's I mean, that's huge. But that alone, it doesn't
• 2:36
  automatically mean.
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  Speaker 2: You're right, it's not a slammed on. It doesn't mean
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  he took her. But it's a massive piece of the puzzle.
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  Wouldn't you say massive?
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  Speaker 1: But there's got to be more to it.
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  Speaker 2: There is, and it's a detail that just sends chills
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  down your spine when you hear it.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, this is where it gets really unsettling for me.
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  What happened a couple of months later? You mentioned something
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  else happened?
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  Speaker 2: Right, So, two months after Morgan disappears, Links tries to
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  abduct another girl. This time it was in Van Buren,
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  Arkansas Van Buren.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's not far from Almah, is it.
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  Speaker 2: Nope, not at all. And guess how old this girl is? Eleven?
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  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, please tell me he didn't he.
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  Speaker 2: Used a red pickup truck, just like in Almah.
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  Speaker 1: No way, it's like he I know, so he couldn't
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  help himself.
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  Speaker 2: That's what's so scary. This time though.
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  Speaker 1: He got caught, thank goodness. Yeah, but what happened how.
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  Speaker 2: The girl she fought back, managed to get away. He'd
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  offered her money, you know, tried to lure her in,
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  made these awful comments, but she was strong. She got
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  away and went straight to the police.
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  Speaker 1: That's incredible, Thank goodness. She got away.
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  Speaker 2: They arrested links charged him with sexual indecency.
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  Speaker 1: So is that how he ended up in prison? Yep?
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  Speaker 2: Convicted, sentenced, and then, like we talked about, he died
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  while he was still behind bars.
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  Speaker 1: So let me get this straight. We've got the truck,
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  the hairs in the truck, this other attempted abduction. It's
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  adding up, but it still feels like, I don't know,
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  like a puzzle where we're missing a few pieces.
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  Speaker 2: There's one more detail. It might seem like a small thing.
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  But you know how it is with these cases.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I know, sometimes it's the smallest things, right, like
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  that one piece of information can crack the whole thing open.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly. Remember those fibers, the blue green cotton fibers they
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  found in his truck.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned those earlier? What about them?
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  Speaker 2: So the FBI they analyzed those fibers and you.
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  Speaker 1: Right for this, give me with it.
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  Speaker 2: They matched perfectly to the girl's scout shirt Morgan was
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  wearing the day she disappeared.
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  Speaker 1: Oh wow, you're kidding, that's unbelievable. But to think those
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  tiny fibers.
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  Speaker 2: It's incredible, right, I mean, talk about a case where
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  every detail matters, and this one, this one's a game changer.
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  Speaker 1: So where does that leave us? I mean, Lynks is gone,
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  he can't exactly tell us what happened.
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  Speaker 2: That's the million dollar trition, isn't it. He's gone, But
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  the investigation isn't over, not by a long shot.
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  Speaker 1: So what our investigator's saying, what's the next step.
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  Speaker 2: They're still asking people to come forward, anyone who might
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  have known links, even casually.
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  Speaker 1: Think they'll find someone after all these years.
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  Speaker 2: You never know. Sometimes all it takes is that one person, right,
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  that one person who remembers something, anything at all.
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  Speaker 1: So if there's someone out there listening right now and
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  they're thinking, well, I knew Billy jacklinks, but what should
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  they do?
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  Speaker 2: Call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children one
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  eight hundred the lost. That's one eight hundred, eight four
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  three five six seven eight. Even if they think what
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  they know doesn't matter, it might be the missing piece
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  of the puzzle.
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  Speaker 1: It's like that's saying, right, the truth is out there.
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  Speaker 2: It is somewhere someone holds the key to unlocking this case.
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  It might be a long shot, but we can't give
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  up hope, not now, not with everything we know.
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  Speaker 1: It's hard to even imagine. Yeah, like a case going cold,
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  what that must feel like for the families just stuck.
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  Speaker 2: It's more than just a case going quiet. It's their
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  lives too, you know, everything's on hold, waiting, wondering if
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  today's the day something, anything will break.
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  Speaker 1: And the thing about Morgan's case, the fact that those
• 5:58
  hairs were saved all those years, they knew back then
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  that it might mean.
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  Speaker 2: Something sometimes, right, It's like they had this intuition, and
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  thank goodness they did, because it's because of their dedication
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  their foresight that this case has a fighting chance now.
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  Speaker 1: That and the fact that science has come such a
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  long way. I mean, think about it, DNA technology. It's
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  like this beacon of hope now, and not just for
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  Morgan's case, for all those families out there who are
• 6:20
  still waiting for answers.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly every time there's a breakthrough, it's like a ripple effect.
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  And for families like Morgan's, I have to imagine even
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  just a little bit of closure, it makes a world
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  of difference.
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  Speaker 1: Right, Like, at least then, even if the pain's still there,
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  there's some sense.
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  Speaker 2: Of knowing exactly, a confirmation, a piece of the puzzle
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  that wasn't there before.
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  Speaker 1: So here we are at the end of another deep dive,
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  and I'm left thinking there's still so much we don't
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  know about what happened to Morgan Nick.
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  Speaker 2: That's the thing about mysteries like this one. They stick
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  with you even when you've explored every angle.
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  Speaker 1: We know a little girl went missing, that a community
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  was shattered that day, and that even after all these years,
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  the fight to bring her home it hasn't faded.
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  Speaker 2: And maybe that's the most important thing, right that even
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  after all this time, we're still talking about Morgan. We're
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  keeping her story alive, and maybe, just maybe that will
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  make a.
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  Speaker 1: Difference, because someone out there knows something, and even if
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  it feels like a small detail, a tiny piece of information,
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  it could be the key to bringing Morgan home.
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  Speaker 2: It could be, and that's why we keep sharing these
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  stories because hope, hope never gets old.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't and sometimes that's all we have. Thanks for
• 7:34
  joining us for this deep dive. We'll be back next
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  week with another case, another story. Until then, stay curious,
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  keep asking questions, and most importantly, never lose hope.