Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Gorgeous Small Town Wisconsin Mom Goes Missing. Family Begs for Help.

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Gorgeous Small Town Wisconsin Mom Goes Missing. Family Begs for Help. · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. When you see her, you
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Speaker 1: may think she's a model. This young mother of two
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Speaker 1: goes missing. The mystery surrounding the disappearance Melissa Trumpy is swirling,
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Speaker 1: and the more I investigate, it seems as if the
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Speaker 1: more tentacles it develops, and the mercier the mystery becomes.
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Speaker 1: I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
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Speaker 1: being with us here at Fox Nation and Serious XM
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Speaker 1: one eleven. The more idelve into the disappearance of Melissa Trumpy,
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Speaker 1: the more I find out, the more obscure and odd
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Speaker 1: different players in this scenario are, the more possibilities as
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Speaker 1: to her whereabouts develop. First of all, take a listen
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Speaker 1: to our friends WMTV right now. A search underway to
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Speaker 1: find a woman from Monticello. The Greene County Sheriff's office
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Speaker 1: says Melissa Trumpy was last seen on Tuesday in Monroe.
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Speaker 1: NBC fifteen Disagambriella Rosque spoke with her family today, who
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Speaker 1: are desperately looking to bring her home. Authority say Melissa
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Speaker 1: is believed to have traveled to Shannon, Illinois the night
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Speaker 1: she went missing. Shannon is about an hour away from
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Speaker 1: Monroe and that area is where loved one spent hours
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Speaker 1: searching for her in cornfields, in woods, under bridges, in creeks.
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Speaker 1: While searching for Melissa Trumpy. Yes, she deserved better than that.
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Speaker 1: She really did. That family say, the thirty seven year
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Speaker 1: old is a loving mother. She's got three beautiful kids,
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Speaker 1: amazing kids, and you love her very much. And the
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Speaker 1: Carroll County Sheriff's Office believes Melissa may have been driving
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Speaker 1: a Tan Toyota Sedan. Anyone with any information is asked
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Speaker 1: to call Carroll County Crimestoppers. Just wait for a moment.
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Speaker 1: And when I tried cases, you could not say this
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Speaker 1: to a jury, but I can say it now to you.
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Speaker 1: Put yourself in the position of Melissa's family. Think about it.
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Speaker 1: I don't like thinking about one of my children being missing,
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Speaker 1: or my husband being missing. I don't like to do that.
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Speaker 1: But just go with it for one moment. Think in
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Speaker 1: your mind. You don't have to say it out loud.
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Speaker 1: The person you love the most in the world. Now,
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Speaker 1: imagine yourself driving aimlessly around town, around the area, looking
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Speaker 1: in cornfields. Will you ever been in a cornfield? That's
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Speaker 1: why they make maze is out of them. You can't
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Speaker 1: see a thing. The corn is much taller than you are,
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Speaker 1: and you're just going through it randomly, and sometimes you
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Speaker 1: can't even get out of it. You don't know which
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Speaker 1: way to turn, fighting your way through cornfields, under bridges,
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Speaker 1: looking under bridges. Have you ever driven by bridges on
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Speaker 1: the interstate and you see homeless encampments there? Imagine looking
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Speaker 1: through that looking for that person, that needle in a haystack.
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Speaker 1: Corn Fields in woods, in creeks. You know, when you're
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Speaker 1: looking for somebody in a creek, you're assuming that they're
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Speaker 1: dead and they're lying in a creek. Under bridges, driving
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Speaker 1: through neighborhood after neighborhood looking That's what her family has
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Speaker 1: gone through, and her children are wondering, where's mommy. When
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Speaker 1: I go out of town for one or two days
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Speaker 1: for work, when I come home, the house is the wreck. Fine,
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Speaker 1: don't care, But I look in the twins backpacks and
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Speaker 1: they have all this stuff in there for like two
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Speaker 1: or three days. Everything's just gone to well, hell hell
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Speaker 1: in a handbasket and it looks like there's no food
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Speaker 1: and the cat and dog's bowl. I'm like, what have
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Speaker 1: they been eating and drinking? It's just these children don't
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Speaker 1: have their mom to hold it all together for them?
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Speaker 1: Why where is she with me? An all star panel
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Speaker 1: to make sense of what we know right now? James
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Speaker 1: Shellnut twenty seven years mastro major case now lawyer at
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Speaker 1: Shellnut Law from dot com. Doctor Sherry Schwartz forensic psychologists
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Speaker 1: specializing in crimes and victim advocacy. She is the author
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Speaker 1: of Criminal Behavior and When Where Law and Psychology to Intersect.
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Speaker 1: Lisa M. Daddy O, former police lieutenant in New Haven,
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Speaker 1: Senior lecturer and the director for the Center of Advanced Policing.
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Speaker 1: Stephanie Quirk joining US multi media journalist reporter ki f
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Speaker 1: R twenty three. Benny Affronti is joining us. He is
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Speaker 1: the father of Melissa's youngest children. Benny, that is a
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Speaker 1: huge hurdle to get over where you tell yourself she's
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Speaker 1: not missing, she's dead, and that's your mindset. It's no
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Speaker 1: longer search, it's recovery. How old are her youngest children?
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Speaker 1: Matteo is six almost seven, and Josie is eight. Oh,
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Speaker 1: my stars, I didn't realize they were that little. Mateo
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Speaker 1: is six and Josie is eight. Yeah, And if Mandy
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Speaker 1: embOS this is Melissa's sister Mandy, what are you saying
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Speaker 1: about the oldest child. She's fifteen. So there's Delana who's fifteen.
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Speaker 1: She was born with Melissa's first husband, and then they
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Speaker 1: did worse than then Bunny and hermant and they had
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Speaker 1: Josie Matteo who's eight and six, So eight six and fifteen.
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Speaker 1: My children, Mandy are they're twins and they're fourteen, and
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Speaker 1: you know, you think, wow, this is the year they
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Speaker 1: needed me the most. You know, I thought that when
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Speaker 1: they were born, because they were really premature, and I
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Speaker 1: struggled every day just to keep them alive, especially Lucy.
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Speaker 1: Then you know, they started walking, and then this and
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Speaker 1: then that, and then they went to school and thought, wow,
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Speaker 1: they really need a mom somebody there in these first
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Speaker 1: years of school. Then they got in middle school. Now
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Speaker 1: they're going to high school and it's a whole knee
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Speaker 1: you minefield of bombs that could go off and and
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Speaker 1: needs and wants for that parent. So there is no
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Speaker 1: good age to be without your mom. And you told me,
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Speaker 1: Benny that Josie h eight, will just start crying all
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Speaker 1: the time all the time. You know, I miss mommy.
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Speaker 1: I want mommy back. And even though it's been explained
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Speaker 1: to the kids, you know that mommy probably is not
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Speaker 1: coming back. Oh they still have that hope, you know,
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Speaker 1: they still Josie will still say, well, I hope mommy
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Speaker 1: does come back, you know. And that's even after me explaining,
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Speaker 1: you know, they don't think, Benny, that she left because
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Speaker 1: she wanted to do they? Oh, they know? Oh, because
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Speaker 1: that would even be worse. I mean, doctor Sherry Schwartz.
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Speaker 1: Wouldn't that be worse if your child thought you left
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Speaker 1: them and never came back, as opposed to your mom
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Speaker 1: being taken away. Absolutely, it would. You know. The thing is,
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Speaker 1: it's a major trauma when one parent is absent, and
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Speaker 1: it but it will impact a child's self esteem if
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Speaker 1: they believe that the parent left because of something. You know,
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Speaker 1: kids naturally internalized and so they think, oh, mom left
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Speaker 1: because of me. So in a way, them knowing that,
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Speaker 1: you know, parent left through no fault of theirs, through
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Speaker 1: no faults of the parents, and they would come back
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Speaker 1: if they could. Even though it's it's very little consolation,
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Speaker 1: it's some what was that last sentence? Even though it's
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Speaker 1: very little consolation to the child, right, it's a little,
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Speaker 1: but it is some consolation to know mom would be
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Speaker 1: here if she could. Oh gosh, you know to you.
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Speaker 1: Stephanie Quirk joining me from w i f R, I
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Speaker 1: got off on a tangent with Benny and many because
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Speaker 1: you know, I'm projecting my own family if I or
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Speaker 1: David were to go missing. But let's get down to
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Speaker 1: what really happened. Take a listen to our friends at
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Speaker 1: wi FR. She just disappeared into this air late. That
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Speaker 1: doesn't happen. The sisters say they assume Trump is most
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Speaker 1: likely dead, and their hopes to find a body so
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Speaker 1: her children can finally have closure. They say they are
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Speaker 1: frustrated the police haven't given them any more information, but
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Speaker 1: understand that a lot of it has to be off
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Speaker 1: the record. Yeah, it was supplied me and Poor to
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Speaker 1: help them during some of their law enforcement operations Stone
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Speaker 1: in Illinois. But to this point, Melissa's unfortunately is still missing.
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Speaker 1: Time stories with Nancy Grace, Let's start at the very beginning.
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Speaker 1: Stephanie Court joining me, multi media journalist and reporter at
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Speaker 1: wi f R twenty three. I know this went down
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Speaker 1: and the monte Cello Monroe area of Wisconsin. Tell me
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Speaker 1: about that? Is that rural suburban? Urban? Is it a city?
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Speaker 1: What is it so. Monta Cello is more of a
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Speaker 1: rural area. That's where Melissa's actually from. It's about twelve
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Speaker 1: hundred people, very low crime, not a lot of crime
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Speaker 1: at all. And Monroe is a city about ten thousand people,
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Speaker 1: but where she was headed is about and Shannon is
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Speaker 1: about eight hundred people, and that's about an hour drive
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Speaker 1: from Monte Cello, also a very rural town, considered very
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Speaker 1: low crime, almost none at all. You know, when I
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Speaker 1: was researching her just appearance, I saw that Monte Solo
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Speaker 1: is actually described as a village. Oh yeah, the village, yes,
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Speaker 1: very small because you know, to you James Shelnutt, twenty
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Speaker 1: seven years Metro major case now lawyer with the Shelnutt Firm. James,
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Speaker 1: I'm projecting again. I grew up in a very rural area.
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Speaker 1: It's more grown up now, but it was the Rutland community.
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Speaker 1: It was not even a village. And to even get
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Speaker 1: to a McDonald's, we had to drive twenty five minutes.
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Speaker 1: Twenty five minutes to get to a McDonald's. So let
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Speaker 1: me just say we never went out to eat. I
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Speaker 1: can tell you that much. So the reason I'm asking
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Speaker 1: is because that bears on what happened this mom, Melissa
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Speaker 1: Trumpy did not just walk off on our own. That
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Speaker 1: did not happen. Correct me if I'm wrong. Lisa Daddio,
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Speaker 1: former police lieutenant in New Haven, PD. There's been no
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Speaker 1: ATM movement, no credit card, no gas cards, no cell
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Speaker 1: phone calls, no nothing, nothing, no anything has happened since
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Speaker 1: she went missing. Right, It's terrible, And the fact that
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Speaker 1: there's been absolutely nothing is um it is telling. It's scary.
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Speaker 1: Of course, you've always got a Sherry Peppini type thing,
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Speaker 1: a gone girl scenario, but there's no indication that happened here.
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Speaker 1: So back to you, shell Nutt. The area says she
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Speaker 1: we don't believe she left on her own becomes significant
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Speaker 1: because then you're looking at a pool of suspects, and
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Speaker 1: if it's rural, it's highly unlikely that this is a
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Speaker 1: stranger on a stranger kid that. Oh, I agree with
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Speaker 1: you one and especially you know you're gonna want to
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Speaker 1: look for sure at who she was with and where
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Speaker 1: she went missing from. And if she went missing from
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Speaker 1: a small town, you're right, based off just population numbers,
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Speaker 1: there's a smaller group of people to look at, a
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Speaker 1: smaller chance that she's going to come in contact with
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Speaker 1: someone who's transient that did something to her, and it
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Speaker 1: certainly helps narrow down the search. I mean, we've had
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Speaker 1: a lot of cases, not a lot. We've had some
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Speaker 1: cases where a stranger attack occurred in a rural area
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Speaker 1: by happenstance they were traveling through. There's a possibility of
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Speaker 1: a stranger and let's just say the Delphi murders of
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Speaker 1: two little girls, Abigail and Liberty Libby. But it is
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Speaker 1: few and far between that in a rural setting, especially
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Speaker 1: this small twelve hundred people and in the next village
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Speaker 1: over eight hundred, that a stranger is going to swoop
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Speaker 1: in and take this young mom without leaving a trace,
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Speaker 1: highly unlikely. Back to you, Stephanie Quar joining me w
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Speaker 1: I f R twenty three. Stephanie, tell me about when
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Speaker 1: she went missing. So she was last seen October twenty six.
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Speaker 1: Police say in Monroe she was believed to be heading
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Speaker 1: towards her boyfriend's house in Shannon, Illinois. How far away
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Speaker 1: is that between each other. That's about an hour from
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Speaker 1: monte Cello, so one hour. Hold on just a second,
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Speaker 1: and Stephanie Cort, do we know what time of the
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Speaker 1: day or not it was that she was heading to
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Speaker 1: the one hour drive. I believe it was night. Okay,
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Speaker 1: what about it, Banny or Mandy jump? At what time
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Speaker 1: did she set off? Ten thirty? She left her job
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Speaker 1: here in Monroe and head to day. What was her job?
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Speaker 1: She was a care provider for her best friend. Her
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Speaker 1: best friend since they were in kindergarten when she was
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Speaker 1: around eighteen, got into a car accident with a drunk
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Speaker 1: driver and became paralyzed. So she committed her life to
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Speaker 1: taking care of her best friend. So she went in
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Speaker 1: home every day, got her up to care of her
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Speaker 1: throughout the day, and then she'd go home and put
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Speaker 1: her about it. She did this for years. Did she
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Speaker 1: get paid for that? Did? Yeah? So she's a professional caregiver.
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Speaker 1: I gotta tell you there is a special place in
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Speaker 1: heaven for caregivers. I have my soon to be ninety
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Speaker 1: one year old mother with me, lives with us, and
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Speaker 1: my husband takes you know, and he didn't sign up
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Speaker 1: for that. He takes care of her. I take care
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Speaker 1: of her. And you have to have a certain disposition
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Speaker 1: to take care of someone day in day out, you know,
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Speaker 1: a lot of love, got to have a big heart,
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Speaker 1: you just told me a lot about Melissa by telling
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Speaker 1: me what you just said. So she gets off and
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Speaker 1: hops in her car. Tell me about her car, Stephanie
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Speaker 1: kirk No. The next day after she was last seen,
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Speaker 1: her trump was found in Bolton Road near Freeport. That's
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Speaker 1: about twenty minutes north of Shannon, and all her belongings
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Speaker 1: were in the vehicle with no sign of Melissa hold On.
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Speaker 1: One moment out earlier, I heard that she was driving
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Speaker 1: a Tan Sedan. So that's wrong, right, thank you. Let's
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Speaker 1: fix that. A Toyota Tundra and color like a two
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Speaker 1: toned gray and silver, gray and silver. Yeah, And I'm
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Speaker 1: asking for a reason. I know it's been recovered, but
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Speaker 1: I'm asking for a reason. Gray silver, two toned Toyota Tundra.
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Speaker 1: Do you have the year? Just by chance? Brand News?
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Speaker 1: She got it from Enterprise, So I'm getting twenty twenty one,
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Speaker 1: twenty twenty two Toyota Tundra. You know, one of the
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Speaker 1: first things that should have been done. I don't know
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Speaker 1: if this was dumb. I know it's a small town.
16:45
Speaker 1: I know that, but a lot of people, including myself,
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Speaker 1: have ring doorbell cams and do you yeah, and do
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Speaker 1: you know Lisa Daddio, and I've got to tell you
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Speaker 1: a wonderful example of this. Um gosh, so many spring
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Speaker 1: to mind. We all know about Colt mom, Laurie Vallo,
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Speaker 1: and we know about how her children, seven year old
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Speaker 1: JJ and teen girl Tiley, just disappeared. There remains found
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Speaker 1: later on Coult mom's new husband's property dead. But the
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Speaker 1: last you know to start your timeline, the last video
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Speaker 1: of JJ is on a ring doorbell and you see
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Speaker 1: him running across the street at Plague, jumping up in
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Speaker 1: the air, happy, just playing. He's seven years old. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: so there's that. There is a cost. There's so many.
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Speaker 1: I always think of the missing Connecticut mom of five,
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Speaker 1: Jennifer Dulos, where police did this fantastic job putting together
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Speaker 1: a video timeline of where husband photo Dulos had been
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Speaker 1: around the time of her disappearance. For instance, they have
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Speaker 1: ring doorbell, they have a bus door opening a public
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Speaker 1: bus and the camp catches his car go by. They
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Speaker 1: have video surveillance from all over the place. Now, I know,
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Speaker 1: these small towns may not have red light red light camps,
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Speaker 1: they may not have security camps and big parking lots
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Speaker 1: at Walmart, but there are ring doorbells. That's the first thing,
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Speaker 1: Lisa Daddio is to get on every possible surveillance video
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Speaker 1: around absolutely Nancy looking at stores or any type of businesses.
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Speaker 1: From where she was last known to be her friend's
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Speaker 1: house at ten three at night, to where her car
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Speaker 1: was found, and going every route possible to see if
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Speaker 1: there's any cameras that would have picked up anything from anywhere,
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Speaker 1: because you just never know. I want to talk about
18:46
Speaker 1: where her vehicle was found to Stephanie joining us WI
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Speaker 1: Fr twenty three, Where exactly between her job as a
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Speaker 1: caregiver and going to see the boy friend an hour away.
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Speaker 1: Was her truck excuse me, not the Sedan, the Toyota
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Speaker 1: Tundra found. So it was Bolton Road, which is near
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Speaker 1: Freeport Freeports City about twenty four thousand people in Stevenson County,
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Speaker 1: twenty four thousand. Yeah, okay, that's getting bigger. Bolton Road
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Speaker 1: near did you say Fremont Freeport Freeport? Okay, huh would
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Speaker 1: that have been in route to the boyfriends? Yeah? Okay,
19:28
Speaker 1: was it halfway? I wonder if they halfway? Like forty minute? Okay,
19:34
Speaker 1: now just think about it. Let's set the Saints ten
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Speaker 1: thirty at night. Was it ten thirty at nine or
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Speaker 1: in the morning. Okay, ten thirty at nine, you're forty
19:43
Speaker 1: minutes in, so you're now looking at eleven ten, eleven, fifteen.
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Speaker 1: She's driving along in her vehicle. Now where Bendy Benny
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Speaker 1: Affrontie her cars found on Bolton Road near Freeport. Was
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Speaker 1: it on the side of the road, did it did
20:04
Speaker 1: it look like she'd had some kind of crash. Did
20:08
Speaker 1: she strike a Hick's vehicle? Did it go off the
20:10
Speaker 1: road or is it just neatly parked on the side
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Speaker 1: of the road, neatly parked in the ditch. It wasn't
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Speaker 1: crashed into the ditch. We believe it was parked there. Okay,
20:21
Speaker 1: let me understand this. This is staging, guys. This is
20:25
Speaker 1: staging because if she in other words, after a crime scene,
20:30
Speaker 1: you adjust the crime scene in some way. You could
20:33
Speaker 1: put a blanket over the dead person's head. You could
20:37
Speaker 1: make the house look like it was ransacked or burglarized.
20:42
Speaker 1: You could cover up the body with some leaves or branches.
20:47
Speaker 1: I've seen that. You did so many things. You could
20:50
Speaker 1: put a gun in the victim's hand. There's so many
20:52
Speaker 1: ways to stage a scene. You could send fake text
20:56
Speaker 1: like Brian Laundry sent fake text reportedly coming from Gabby,
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Speaker 1: his fiance that he murdered. So all of that is staging.
21:06
Speaker 1: It can be elaborate or it can be simple. But
21:10
Speaker 1: if she were to run off the road, she would
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Speaker 1: not have neatly parkened down in a ditch. Should pull
21:15
Speaker 1: it over in the emergency lane or right beside the
21:18
Speaker 1: road for people to see it. Maybe let the hood up,
21:21
Speaker 1: maybe turn on emergency lights, but you don't go down
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Speaker 1: into a ditch and then neatly park your car. No,
21:29
Speaker 1: was the car locked? And what condition was the car?
21:32
Speaker 1: And was there the windows busted out? Was the car locked?
21:38
Speaker 1: What can you tell me? Oh? And where was the
21:41
Speaker 1: driver's seat? Had it been pushed back for a man
21:43
Speaker 1: to drive that's taller than her? What does anybody know
21:46
Speaker 1: the answer to any of that? Well, that's a good
21:48
Speaker 1: question because the police haven't really answered a whole lot
21:50
Speaker 1: of questions. Everything seems to be very secretive. But we
21:53
Speaker 1: did have this one police officer from Stevenson Horny, an
21:56
Speaker 1: investigative detective. We did tell us oliver personal effects were
22:00
Speaker 1: found in that vehicle. So when you say staging, he
22:03
Speaker 1: took the vehicle there, put her phone, her purse, all
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Speaker 1: her belongings, even her shoes and her coat were in
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Speaker 1: that vehicle. A minute I've got I didn't want to
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Speaker 1: agree with you being a AFFRONTI that she has passed on.
22:17
Speaker 1: I did not want to agree with you. She walked
22:19
Speaker 1: away with no money, no coat, no shoes, and my
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Speaker 1: sister she took. You know, she's a typical woman. She
22:27
Speaker 1: drives down with a lot of bags, bags for everything,
22:30
Speaker 1: you know, begs for makeup. She wouldn't ever leave without
22:33
Speaker 1: her phone, her purse, her makeup bag, her shoes, her coat,
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Speaker 1: I mean everything was found in there. And where her
22:41
Speaker 1: vehicle was parked, there was a few houses up the road.
22:45
Speaker 1: And the frust rating part for us was when we
22:47
Speaker 1: went door to door to them to look for ring cameras,
22:51
Speaker 1: like you were saying, we were the first ones to
22:53
Speaker 1: knock down their door, and it was right up the
22:56
Speaker 1: road from where her truck was parked, which means the
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Speaker 1: police did not go there to see if they had
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Speaker 1: ring cameras or nothing. And this is about two months
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Speaker 1: after she went missing. Nobody went door to door there.
23:07
Speaker 1: James shell Nutt, please tell me the good news is
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Speaker 1: that ring doorbell cam video is stored in the cloud, right,
23:15
Speaker 1: that's right, so you can go back and get that
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Speaker 1: even months and months later. So I'm not quite sure
23:23
Speaker 1: how to go about this, but i can tell you
23:26
Speaker 1: the Carroll County Sheriff's Office at eight one five two
23:29
Speaker 1: four four two six three five or the Freeport Police
23:33
Speaker 1: Department eight one five two three five eight two two
23:37
Speaker 1: two would have some answers. Jackie. Let's get in touch
23:42
Speaker 1: with them after today's program and see what they can
23:44
Speaker 1: tell us. But that's very disturbing that they have not
23:47
Speaker 1: gathered that. So we know that our truck was sitting there.
23:51
Speaker 1: Do we know if it was locked? Don't know that part.
23:54
Speaker 1: We know her cell phone was in there. Her phone, Yeah,
23:58
Speaker 1: it had a VPN. He had some mouse set up
24:00
Speaker 1: a vp her phone and we had heard that her
24:03
Speaker 1: phone was bounced it off Kansas City and Singapore at night.
24:06
Speaker 1: Who tells you that the investigative detective from Steven Fanhara. Okay,
24:11
Speaker 1: for those of you that don't know, out to Lisa
24:14
Speaker 1: Daddy explain a vp N and how that can work.
24:20
Speaker 1: So a VPN allows a user to tap into For example,
24:29
Speaker 1: if I'm working from home, I could tap into my
24:31
Speaker 1: work computer, utilizing a VPN a portal to get me
24:35
Speaker 1: in where I actually access my desktop, and I can
24:39
Speaker 1: go ahead and do work as if I was sitting
24:42
Speaker 1: in my office from my desktop computer and all the
24:44
Speaker 1: files and everything that are on there. So it allows
24:47
Speaker 1: me to look like I'm in my office, but I'm
24:50
Speaker 1: actually not in my office. A VPN, you can get
24:55
Speaker 1: VPN protection, for instance from McAfee, but can confuse where
25:03
Speaker 1: your phone appears to be. But there are ways for
25:07
Speaker 1: police to break a VPN and triangulate where that phone
25:12
Speaker 1: physically was. Do you know Melissa Melissa is the sister
25:18
Speaker 1: of missing mom Melissa Trumpy. Do you know the cops
25:21
Speaker 1: have done that yet? I believe they were trying to
25:24
Speaker 1: get the last We knew that ABI was working with
25:28
Speaker 1: the technology part of the way. Did you say the
25:30
Speaker 1: FBI has been called in? Oh, that'd be I hadn't
25:33
Speaker 1: been yet. Okay, Well, then you're going to get some
25:35
Speaker 1: answers if they're in on it. I find this very
25:40
Speaker 1: very interesting, the fact that none of that ring doorbell
25:47
Speaker 1: cam video had been sought by sheriffs or police. I wonder,
25:53
Speaker 1: do you know Benny Affrontie if her truck was taken
25:58
Speaker 1: and processed. I believe that her truck is still an
26:02
Speaker 1: impound good so nobody can tamper with it. It's actually
26:06
Speaker 1: a rental vehicle. Ah, that's really good. You know why
26:10
Speaker 1: that's good because it's probably got a NAV system in
26:13
Speaker 1: it because rentals. I mean, that's the next thing I
26:17
Speaker 1: would find out where that rental car had been that night.
26:21
Speaker 1: I mean, it ain't rocket science, people, but you have
26:26
Speaker 1: to What it is is diligence. That's our cases are
26:29
Speaker 1: quite diligence. I mean we're throwing things out right here
26:33
Speaker 1: and we don't know if any of that has been
26:36
Speaker 1: done yet. But you know what, I may not be
26:38
Speaker 1: a rocket scientist. I may not be able to explain
26:41
Speaker 1: to you exactly how technical data is gathered or interpreted,
26:48
Speaker 1: but I do know this. Take listen to our cut four.
26:53
Speaker 1: This is marked to Bergland wif R. Individual was held
26:57
Speaker 1: in front of the last place Trump. He was seen
27:00
Speaker 1: at her boyfriend Derek Hall's family house. Trumpy's family members
27:04
Speaker 1: say their absence is telling. I would say it's a
27:08
Speaker 1: clear sign that they're trying to hide something, but I'm
27:11
Speaker 1: not the one to say that, but I have a
27:13
Speaker 1: pretty good instinct that that is what's happening. They've done
27:15
Speaker 1: with them to avoid us from the very beginning. Everybody's
27:19
Speaker 1: lawyered up and not talking in hush hush. But and
27:22
Speaker 1: the crazy thing is my sister thought the world of
27:24
Speaker 1: his family. Okay right there, it's giving me a horrible
27:29
Speaker 1: flashback to Lacy Peterson. Do you remember that doctor Sherry
27:36
Speaker 1: Schwartz where at the vigil for Lacy Scott Paterson would
27:43
Speaker 1: not speak? Do you remember that? I do remember that
27:47
Speaker 1: he was in the background and he wouldn't speak, and
27:51
Speaker 1: he wasn't asking for help to look for Lacy. Remember
27:56
Speaker 1: killer fiance Patrick Frazy when his fiance goes missing Kelsey Barrett.
28:04
Speaker 1: He did not go out and make public requests or
28:08
Speaker 1: please for her to be found here. This family is
28:13
Speaker 1: not coming to the vigil. Why are they not coming
28:17
Speaker 1: to the vigil? You know, it's interesting to doctor Sherry Schwartz.
28:22
Speaker 1: Maybe they felt that they were under fire. Maybe they
28:25
Speaker 1: didn't want her boyfriend Derek Hamer to be under suspicion
28:30
Speaker 1: in any way, because she was headed to his house
28:33
Speaker 1: the last night she was seen alive. But to come
28:37
Speaker 1: to the vigil, I find that a very curious move
28:40
Speaker 1: on their part. Well, it's deeply troubling, right because we
28:44
Speaker 1: know from other cases, and most recently, what comes to
28:46
Speaker 1: my mind is the Laundry family, Brian Laundry in the
28:50
Speaker 1: Gabby Petito case. Although there wasn't necessarily a vigil the
28:54
Speaker 1: family wouldn't cooperate at all in giving her family any
28:57
Speaker 1: information about why he showed up at home without her.
29:01
Speaker 1: So it is very curious and it's deeply troubling. Why
29:04
Speaker 1: wouldn't you engage in the search crime stories with Nancy Grace?
29:25
Speaker 1: I want to talk about where she was last seyn
29:29
Speaker 1: to Mandy embOS, this is Melissa's sister. I've got conflicting
29:35
Speaker 1: reports about where she was last seen, and both of
29:40
Speaker 1: the reports do not place her in her Toyota tundra
29:44
Speaker 1: where her remember her cars found neatly put on the
29:46
Speaker 1: side of the road. Now, let me understand the boyfriend,
29:50
Speaker 1: Derek Hammer thirty five years old, isn't his mother the
29:55
Speaker 1: town clerk, yes, the town treasurer to that every town
29:59
Speaker 1: hall meeting where this is all not. She controls the paper,
30:03
Speaker 1: the website and all of which have not publicized her
30:08
Speaker 1: that she went missing down there, which I mean, and
30:10
Speaker 1: we'd think Roman area of her people. Somebody goes missing
30:14
Speaker 1: in your town, it would be big news, huge, big news, right,
30:18
Speaker 1: And nachos and football was on the front page the
30:22
Speaker 1: day her article was in there. But did you say
30:24
Speaker 1: nachos and football were on the front page yet, that's
30:28
Speaker 1: what I said on the front page and hers was
30:30
Speaker 1: a small little article on the second page with a
30:33
Speaker 1: tiny little picture. Yeah. The reason I asked about Derek Hammer,
30:38
Speaker 1: age thirty five, the boyfriend of missing mom Melissa Trumpy,
30:43
Speaker 1: is because one of the signings apparently placed her at
30:48
Speaker 1: Hammer's mother, the town clark or treasurer, as you said,
30:53
Speaker 1: at her home around midnight. What can you tell me
30:56
Speaker 1: about that been near frontie? Yeah, Melissa was seen. I
31:01
Speaker 1: believe even Derek's mother had told police that she was
31:06
Speaker 1: there around midnight, and we had that confirmed by the
31:10
Speaker 1: Stevenson Colny Lieutenant Bradley Curtis, who he's the head of investigations.
31:15
Speaker 1: She herself, according to your sources, states that Melissa was
31:19
Speaker 1: at her house the night she goes missing October twenty six,
31:24
Speaker 1: at midnight. Is that correct? Yeah? Okay, then I've got
31:28
Speaker 1: a conflicting statement. Where else do we know either a
31:34
Speaker 1: Mandy and bog or Benny Affrontee. She was later seen
31:39
Speaker 1: we think with Derek Hammer, the son, the town clerk's son,
31:46
Speaker 1: later that night at a cousin's house. Is that correct, ye,
31:50
Speaker 1: Stephen Derek pres he was, they were a leader. The
31:54
Speaker 1: witness testimony is Melissa came to derek house that night.
32:00
Speaker 1: What it sounds like is Derek and Melissa got ready,
32:02
Speaker 1: they picked up his cousin, Stephen, who's Steve across the
32:05
Speaker 1: street from his mom sometimes and then the three of
32:09
Speaker 1: them all went out to his apartment that night. Whose
32:12
Speaker 1: apartment Stephen Dakiss Stephen dap Kiss is boyfriend Derek Hammer's cousin. Okay,
32:22
Speaker 1: and the two mothers, the town clark and the cousin's
32:25
Speaker 1: mom live across the street from each other. Yes, no, yes, ma'am.
32:29
Speaker 1: So let me get this straight. Melissa's saying at boyfriend
32:33
Speaker 1: mom town Clark's house at midnight according to the mom,
32:38
Speaker 1: and then later we think across the street at cousin's house. No,
32:44
Speaker 1: this is what we believe is that Melissa was it
32:47
Speaker 1: Denise Hammer's house. Derek's mothers now Stephen Daphkiss is Derek's cousin.
32:53
Speaker 1: Stephen Daphkiss's mother lives across the street from Derek's mother,
32:58
Speaker 1: but we believe that Stephen was at his mother's house
33:02
Speaker 1: across the street when Melissa got to Derek's mother's house,
33:06
Speaker 1: and then Stephen joined them, came across the street from
33:09
Speaker 1: his mother's house, and then we've been told there's not one.
33:13
Speaker 1: There's there's a lot of speculation, but we've been told
33:16
Speaker 1: that the three of them together, Derek, Melissa, and Stephen
33:21
Speaker 1: drove from both of the mother's houses of the cousins
33:26
Speaker 1: to an apartment building outside of Mount Carroll where Stephen
33:31
Speaker 1: has his own apartment, So that may have been her
33:34
Speaker 1: life last signing. I think the police really need to
33:37
Speaker 1: press his cousin, Stephen Dak because but there's another clue.
33:43
Speaker 1: Take a listen to our cut eleven. Our friend Rachel
33:48
Speaker 1: Perry at WTVO core Documents show Hammer has a history
33:52
Speaker 1: with her. He went the next day and told his
33:54
Speaker 1: teacher that he'd witness his mother being struck in the
33:58
Speaker 1: face by Derek Hammer. Just more than a month before
34:00
Speaker 1: Melissa Trumpy was last seen. Her boyfriend, Derek Hammer was
34:04
Speaker 1: charged with domestic abuse. His arrest came after Melissa's son
34:07
Speaker 1: told his teacher he saw hammer yelling at Melissa before
34:11
Speaker 1: the night turned violent and Derek pointed a shotgun at
34:14
Speaker 1: Melissa in front of my six year olds on Mato.
34:18
Speaker 1: So he went into school he told a teacher about that.
34:22
Speaker 1: Benefronti is the father of Melissa's kids. He says, they
34:26
Speaker 1: desperately want their mom back. It's hard. I mean, it's heartbreaking.
34:30
Speaker 1: I had my daughter wrote a Christmas wish list to
34:34
Speaker 1: Santa Claus a couple days ago and came and handed
34:37
Speaker 1: me to that, and I mean, the the biggest thing
34:40
Speaker 1: on there. She wanted it was Santa to bring mom home.
34:44
Speaker 1: Mandy and bes he bat her before. Yeah, So the
34:51
Speaker 1: year leading up to my sister's disappearance, we all actually
34:55
Speaker 1: had lived together, Me, Melissa, Benn and the kids. And
34:59
Speaker 1: then and Ben and Melissa broke up in Derek literally
35:03
Speaker 1: seemed to like move in by the end of the week.
35:07
Speaker 1: It started by it was slow things. I noticed. It
35:12
Speaker 1: was like he was grooming her. He started controlling everywhere
35:16
Speaker 1: she went, everywhere, everybody she talked to. He was looking
35:20
Speaker 1: at her phone. She couldn't even go to Dungeonnas with
35:24
Speaker 1: her daughter without him calling and accusing her of having
35:27
Speaker 1: sexual relations with someone. Or walmarts. One time we tried
35:31
Speaker 1: to get groceries and he was blowing her up, fighting
35:34
Speaker 1: with her the whole time we were trying to get groceries.
35:37
Speaker 1: It started by him having tantrum outbursts and then it
35:40
Speaker 1: developed into a full on domestic case where Ben affront
35:44
Speaker 1: to you say, according to your son, Matteo, age six,
35:50
Speaker 1: he saw, according to the six year old little boy,
35:53
Speaker 1: Derek Hammer hit Melissa, slap her in the face and
35:57
Speaker 1: pull a gun. Yeah, he had. Derek was screaming at
36:03
Speaker 1: Melissa about some pills that he couldn't find. He struck.
36:08
Speaker 1: I don't know if he thought Melissa took his pills
36:11
Speaker 1: or he just couldn't find them or whatnot. But both
36:14
Speaker 1: of the kids were actually their present, my sixth and
36:17
Speaker 1: my eight year old. My six year old son was
36:19
Speaker 1: actually the one that witnessed it, and I think my
36:23
Speaker 1: daughter was in the home, but this happened I think
36:25
Speaker 1: in the garage, and so they go tell their teacher,
36:28
Speaker 1: and that is how the whole thing ends up being reported.
36:31
Speaker 1: She Melissa did not report it. Stephanie Quirt joining me
36:36
Speaker 1: WIFR twenty three. That's not uncommon. Women so afraid they
36:41
Speaker 1: won't tell anybody they're getting beaten and terrorized at home, Stephanie.
36:46
Speaker 1: Derek Hammer has been nabbed on other charges. What are they?
36:52
Speaker 1: He has a lengthy list of charges. If I read
36:55
Speaker 1: them all, we'd be here a very long time. I mean.
36:59
Speaker 1: He has charged for bail jumping, alluding an officer, just
37:03
Speaker 1: orderly contact, possession of a firearm, drug trafficking, battery charges
37:08
Speaker 1: alluding to domestic violence. In Las Vegas, he strangled a
37:13
Speaker 1: woman and reports say the woman thought he was going
37:17
Speaker 1: to kill her and throw her over the balcony. On
37:22
Speaker 1: top of that, he has explosive charges ieed explosive charges
37:27
Speaker 1: and unlawsable use of a firearm that he actually fired
37:30
Speaker 1: at one of his ex girlfriends while she was running away. Guys,
37:34
Speaker 1: please help us. This family has said they feel quote defeated.
37:42
Speaker 1: They have nowhere else to turn. They're not getting answers.
37:47
Speaker 1: Melissa Trump is missing her three children beg for mommy
37:53
Speaker 1: to come home. Imagine if it were your children begging.
37:59
Speaker 1: Let me give you the tip lines eight one five, two, four,
38:02
Speaker 1: four two six three five repeat eight one five two
38:07
Speaker 1: four four two six three five or eight one five
38:12
Speaker 1: two three, five, eight two two two repeat eight one five, two, three,
38:18
Speaker 1: five eight two two two. You can also go to
38:22
Speaker 1: change dot org and look for missing Melissa Trumpy. Keep
38:28
Speaker 1: Derek Hammer in jail, and that's what I advise, Keep
38:34
Speaker 1: him in jail until you can build a case to
38:38
Speaker 1: find Melissa Trumpy. And as I sign off, let me
38:44
Speaker 1: remind you no one has been named a person of interest.
38:48
Speaker 1: No one has been named a suspect. No one has
38:51
Speaker 1: been charged or arrested in Melissa's disappearance. We wait, as
38:58
Speaker 1: God willing just to unfolds Nancy Grace Crime Stories. Signing up,
39:04
Speaker 1: goodbye friend,