Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / LANDFILL SEARCH FOR LUX REALTOR-MOM ENDS: HUBBY’S FRIEND DUMPS GUN?

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LANDFILL SEARCH FOR LUX REALTOR-MOM ENDS: HUBBY’S FRIEND DUMPS GUN? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:00
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The landfill search for a
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Speaker 1: luxury real true mom is called off this as the
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Speaker 1: husband's friend dumps a gun. Did he actually hide the
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Speaker 1: murtyr weapon? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank
0:25
Speaker 1: you for being with us.
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Speaker 2: Monday afternoon, Brad Simpson gets a call because his wife,
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Speaker 2: Suzanne is now almost thirty minutes late picking up their kindergartener.
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Speaker 3: She was very.
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Speaker 1: Involved in her children's lives. Not one time has she
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Speaker 1: left her children alone.
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Speaker 2: No one has heard from Suzanne and isn't answering her phone.
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Speaker 4: What makes it most concerning is that it's not characteristic
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Speaker 4: of her.
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Speaker 1: Hi. I'm Suzanne. I've been in real estate for thirteen years.
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Speaker 5: This listing that is now pending has been a great
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Speaker 5: transaction because I was personally friends with the buyers and Besellis.
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Speaker 6: We are devastated by the loss of my sister. I
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Speaker 6: am here to be a voice for my sister, and
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Speaker 6: the search will continue and we will not stop until
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Speaker 6: we find her.
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Speaker 1: First, you were seeing Suzanne herself doing an ad lib
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Speaker 1: for a property she had just sold. Then you saw
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Speaker 1: her sister from our friends at KABB Fox San Antonio. Wow.
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Speaker 1: So much is happening right now, and the search for
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Speaker 1: this mom, a missing mom, a luxury realtor as she
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Speaker 1: has been called, is missing. How did it go down? This?
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Speaker 1: As we learn in the last days, a massive landfill
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Speaker 1: search has been called off. Control room. God, please see
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Speaker 1: a shot of Suzanne Clark Simpson, because this is very
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Speaker 1: difficult for me to grasp and I have overseen many
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Speaker 1: landfill search that this beautiful mom, living, breathing, full of vitality,
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Speaker 1: full of love for her children. You could see that
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Speaker 1: just beaming out of her in that short little clip
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Speaker 1: we played for you. She's in front of a sould sign.
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Speaker 1: It's hard for me to reconcile that this woman could
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Speaker 1: be found dead, decaying, decomposing, and a dump, a dump
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Speaker 1: full of rotting food, stinky smells, old furniture, refuse used
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Speaker 1: in diapers, her this gorgeous mom. That's what we know
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Speaker 1: right now. The landfill search has been called off. Cadets.
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Speaker 1: I believe fifty of them were in has Matt out there.
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Speaker 1: It's conducting a landfill search, and that is not easy,
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Speaker 1: especially in Texas temperatures. Complete Hasmat outfits. That search after
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Speaker 1: multiple days ended. Again, thank you for being with us
3:18
Speaker 1: as we continue to help in the search for Suzanne
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Speaker 1: and are right off the top. I want to give
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Speaker 1: you a tip line number. This is a very active search.
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Speaker 7: L E.
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Speaker 1: Law Enforcement needs our help. That number two one zero
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Speaker 1: two zero nine two seven zero one repeat two to
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Speaker 1: one zero two zero nine two seven zero one. This
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Speaker 1: is the direct line to Detective Hector Ruis. Please help
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Speaker 1: us find this mom. As we go to air tonight,
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Speaker 1: we're learning a lot with me and all start paneling
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Speaker 1: to make sense of what we know right now. But
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Speaker 1: first straight out to Zachary Taylor, right trending digital reporter,
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Speaker 1: My essay my San Antonio dot com. Zach, thank you
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Speaker 1: so much for being with us. Zach, what can you
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Speaker 1: tell me? I'm gonna move to the new search. They're
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Speaker 1: away from the landfill aka dump The thought of this
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Speaker 1: mom lying out in a dump is I don't have
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Speaker 1: the right word for it. It's very disturbing, to say
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Speaker 1: the least. The search has moved to another area. But
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Speaker 1: I'm going to ask you about this. What about Hobby
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Speaker 1: the husband friend now suspect in getting rid of a weapon?
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Speaker 4: What absolutely so new charges we're filed this week? James
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Speaker 4: Cotter was arrested for, according to Restawore, an affidavit that
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Speaker 4: we received, agreeing to attempt to hide a weapon on
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Speaker 4: Brad Simson's behalf. Brad Simson himself is also facing to
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Speaker 4: additional charges related to this attempt, one for a tamper
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Speaker 4: with evidence.
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Speaker 1: Okay, Zach, slow down. Okay, Now, see if I were
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Speaker 1: putting you on the witness stand, I would have gone
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Speaker 1: through this with you. No compound sentences. You're a journalist,
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Speaker 1: you know what that means. So let's take each fact
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Speaker 1: one at a time. Because guess who's on with me today,
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Speaker 1: Zach retailor right, Jeff Horny, longtime friend of not only
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Speaker 1: Susanne but also Brad. Right now we're talking about a
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Speaker 1: different friend of the husband. Only now slow it down.
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Speaker 1: Tell me again. I want the jury to hear exactly
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Speaker 1: what you're saying. Okay, go what so?
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Speaker 4: James Conner, a friend of Brad Simpson and former business
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Speaker 4: partner in several different endeavors, has been arrested on a
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Speaker 4: third free felony charge for tampering with evidence.
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Speaker 1: It is okay, right there, When you say friend, you
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Speaker 1: mean business friend like they had they worked together. Is
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Speaker 1: that how he's a friend? Correct.
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Speaker 4: They wear business partners in caller's father's company, and then
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Speaker 4: they've also had a couple of other business endeavors.
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Speaker 1: Together, so they go way back business wise. Okay, he
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Speaker 1: has been arrested for.
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Speaker 4: What tampering with evidence he allegedly.
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Speaker 1: With evidence he allegedly tried to hide.
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Speaker 4: Or what he had allegedly attempted to hide a weapon
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Speaker 4: on behalf of Brad Simpson un arrest for an affidavit
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Speaker 4: shows that communications between the two, with Brad frantically asking
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Speaker 4: for his help.
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Speaker 1: Oh oh, okay, with me an all star panel. Hold on, Zach,
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Speaker 1: don't move. Zach Taylor Wright joining us from my San
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Speaker 1: Antonio dot com. Brian Fitzgibbons is with US. Don't move,
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Speaker 1: Jeff Horny, I'm coming straight to you. Brian Fitzgibbons is
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Speaker 1: with US Director Operations USP, a nationwide security who leads
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Speaker 1: a team of investigator specializing in locating missing people. Brian,
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Speaker 1: you heard what Zach just said. Let's analyze it right
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Speaker 1: there before you go one step further. They find the
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Speaker 1: friend Cotter. Okay, they find the friend obviously because they
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Speaker 1: have subpoenaed LA law enforcement has subpoened the husband's digital
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Speaker 1: apparatus all of his devices, cell phone, laptop, iPad, you
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Speaker 1: name it. That means all the texts and all the
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Speaker 1: emails now, Zach, Yes. Note, did I hear you say
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Speaker 1: that the husband had frantically contacted friend Cotter to help
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Speaker 1: him get rid of a weapon? That is correct.
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Speaker 4: He noted how little time he had and peted his
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Speaker 4: friend's assistance.
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Speaker 1: And I believe he said words to the effect of,
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Speaker 1: I don't have much time. Correct, Okay, okay, Brian Fitzgibbons, amateurs,
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Speaker 1: do I have to use the legal phrase idiot? He
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Speaker 1: put it in a text. Can you help me get
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Speaker 1: rid of a weapon? I don't have much time? Brian,
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Speaker 1: help me out.
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Speaker 8: Lar enforceman was all over that, Nancy, just like you said,
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Speaker 8: they'd have those digital records, and by October tenth they
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Speaker 8: were already at his friend James val Catter's residence looking
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Speaker 8: at his phone. It would be later determined that the
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Speaker 8: weapon was hidden. But law enforcement has been right on
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Speaker 8: top of this lead right from the get go.
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Speaker 1: From the get go, Brian Fitzgibbons to Ben Powers joining
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Speaker 1: me high profile criminal defense attorney and you can find
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Speaker 1: them at legalpowers dot com. Ben, thank you for being
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Speaker 1: with us. You know what that tells me. If you're
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Speaker 1: representing this guy, you're in a whole heap of trouble
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Speaker 1: because James val Carter is not going to sit lonely
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Speaker 1: in his cell and not tell where and if he
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Speaker 1: hid what I believe to be a murder weapon. We're
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Speaker 1: going to get that murder weapon and we're going to
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Speaker 1: find prints on it unless they thought to wipe them off,
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Speaker 1: and that weapon is going to belong to the husband.
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Speaker 1: Just a wild guest. What about powers?
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Speaker 3: So I think it's important to remember that there's two
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Speaker 3: separate investigations going on at the same time. There's the
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Speaker 3: investigation into Suzanne's disappearance, but there's also a separate ATF
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Speaker 3: investigation into illegal firearms possessed by mister Simpson. And so
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Speaker 3: the tampering with evidence could go to the firearms investigation,
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Speaker 3: because right now there's no connection to the missing of
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Speaker 3: Suzanne Simpson. It's just a firearm.
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Speaker 1: Don't make me forty sharing a murder investigation. The Fed's
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Speaker 1: investigation into the husband regarding the short barrel weapon they
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Speaker 1: found in the home. That investigation is over. He's charged.
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Speaker 1: He's looking at what did I say, Jackie ten to
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Speaker 1: fifteen behind bars and a two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Fine,
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Speaker 1: they've already got that gun. This is a different gun.
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Speaker 1: He didn't ask his friend Cotter to hide that gun.
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Speaker 1: He asked his friend Cotter to hide another gun. Crime
10:03
Speaker 1: Stories with Nancy Grace joining you right now. A special
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Speaker 1: guest to whom my earlier alluded, Jeff Horny, longtime friend
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Speaker 1: of both Suzanne and Brad Brad Simpson. Suzanne Clark Simpson.
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Speaker 1: Mister Horny, thank you for being with us.
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Speaker 9: Yes, thank you.
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Speaker 1: I know this is very disturbing to you because you're
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Speaker 1: friends with both Suzanne and the husband Brad Simpson. When
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Speaker 1: did you first learn that she's missing?
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Speaker 9: From a friend? And they just called me out of
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Speaker 9: the blue and said, can you believe that Suzanne's missing?
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Speaker 9: And I and I kind of freaked out and said
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Speaker 9: what what? What? What? I just talked to her just
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Speaker 9: you know, So that's how I learned, unfortunately.
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Speaker 1: And what was your immediate thought upon learning she was missing? Oh?
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Speaker 9: My immediate thought is where's her pig husband? Sorry?
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Speaker 1: See that was my immediate thought, where is her pig husband?
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Speaker 1: I thought the same thing.
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Speaker 9: I went to his Facebook page and I said, where
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Speaker 9: are you, Brad Simpson? And I was the only one
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Speaker 9: on there, so I I deleted my comment and moved on.
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Speaker 9: But I couldn't believe that nobody else was wondering where
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Speaker 9: he was.
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Speaker 1: And at that time, do we now know where was
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Speaker 1: he hiding his gun?
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Speaker 9: Yeah? He was doing something fishy. He had a few
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Speaker 9: hours to do whatever he did or didn't do. You know, Okay, I've.
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Speaker 1: Got a question. Could you backtrack from me, mister horney.
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Speaker 1: I want to hear how she ended up with him.
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Speaker 1: It's like a fairy marrying a donkey. How did this happen?
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Speaker 9: Again? The the I know the Clarks and the Simpsons,
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Speaker 9: and they're both great families. I grew up with Suzanne
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Speaker 9: and her older sister, Teresa's who I grew up with,
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Speaker 9: and of course Suzanne was around. The older we got,
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Speaker 9: the more Suzanne was around. And then those they met
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Speaker 9: in college at the University of Texas, and that's how
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Speaker 9: I met Brad. Brad and I were fraternity brothers at
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Speaker 9: UT and I'd known him from San Antonio for a
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Speaker 9: little bit and but then we just you know, we
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Speaker 9: we uh just became friends. And after college we both
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Speaker 9: moved back to San Antonio, and uh, just that's how
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Speaker 9: San Antonio is. It's a it's a big small town,
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Speaker 9: and everybody knows each other, and and so there were unfortunately,
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Speaker 9: there was a lot of really good folks affected in
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Speaker 9: this terrible tragedy. And we want answers.
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Speaker 1: So these two have known each other for quite some time.
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Speaker 1: So how did it end up that he convinced her
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Speaker 1: to marry him?
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Speaker 9: You know, that's a good question. We all thought that
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Speaker 9: he was a man of outstanding character and and it's
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Speaker 9: amazing the things you find out. Huh.
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Speaker 1: You know what's interesting about what you said, Jeff? So
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Speaker 1: many things. But let me go to Courtney Laski joining
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Speaker 1: me what sort of I behavior analyst at True North
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Speaker 1: Behavioral Consulting. Courtney, in addition to being a felony prosecutor
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Speaker 1: for over a decade, I worked at night volunteering at
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Speaker 1: the Batter Women's Center hotline. You know what's amazing, Courtney,
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Speaker 1: is how charming an abuser can be. If you knew
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Speaker 1: public officials wives calling into that hotline, and when you'd
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Speaker 1: see them on TV, butterwo and melt in their mouth.
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Speaker 1: I mean, they were so charming, affable, friendly, charismatic, but
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Speaker 1: at home they beat the h e l out of
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Speaker 1: their spouse. So I'm hearing Jeff Horny say he was
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Speaker 1: an outstanding character. You know, we all liked him, we
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Speaker 1: were fraternity brothers. But it's nobody can believe that he
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Speaker 1: could be capable of this. And let me stress, he
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Speaker 1: remains innocent, presumed innocent under the law until he has
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Speaker 1: been proven in court by judge or jury to be guilty.
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Speaker 1: That said, how is that? How can an abuser be
14:39
Speaker 1: so charming? I mean, Courtney, the landfill search has been
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Speaker 1: called off and law enforcement made it very clear they
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Speaker 1: were convinced they would find her there. But this guy,
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Speaker 1: I believe, has outsmarted police. How can he be so
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Speaker 1: charming and f many people? He's a great guy. We
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Speaker 1: often know.
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Speaker 10: With the personalities of domestic violence, the abusers are often charismatic,
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Speaker 10: They're charming. They have a way of convincing the world
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Speaker 10: that they are quality individuals. While the victim of domestic violence,
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Speaker 10: they often go into the fight or flight or the
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Speaker 10: third response of fawning. And with fawning is the people pleasing.
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Speaker 10: It's the conflict avoidance. It's pretending that everything on the
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Speaker 10: outside is okay, And unfortunately that is the most common,
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Speaker 10: especially in these personalities where on the outside everything's beautiful, perfect,
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Speaker 10: but for Suzanne, it wasn't perfect at home.
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Speaker 1: Jeff Warney joined me, longtime friend of both Suzanne and Simpsons. Jeff,
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Speaker 1: is that true? Was he nice guy, charismatic, engaging?
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Speaker 9: Yes? Yes again he you know, the the area in
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Speaker 9: which he's from is a very close knit area, and
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Speaker 9: and and the the the place where they were beforehand
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Speaker 9: at the Argyle as a meeting place for uh these
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Speaker 9: these uh a lot of my friends and in the
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Speaker 9: Alama Heights area, and it's a drinking establishment. And unfortunately,
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Speaker 9: I think that whenever there is alcohol involved in in anything,
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Speaker 9: it puts a whole other level of of Oh, I
16:46
Speaker 9: don't even know what the word is, just it screws
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Speaker 9: a lot of things up when when folks have been drinking, Suzanne.
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Speaker 1: And Brad were invited to a party there. The Argyle
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Speaker 1: is a very exclusive club in San Antonio.
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Speaker 9: It's a very high membership to join that club.
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Speaker 11: Brad and Susanne Simpson return home from dinner at the Argyle.
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Speaker 11: A neighbor here is a loud arguing from their home.
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Speaker 7: So we're holding out hope that maybe, you know, maybe
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Speaker 7: she's trying to be away from the home, to get
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Speaker 7: away from that situation. That's not totally uncommon, but what
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Speaker 7: is incommon. What is unusual is that this was a
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Speaker 7: woman who worked and was very dependable, and loved her
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Speaker 7: children and was always in contact with their children and
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Speaker 7: her family and her friends.
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Speaker 1: You are hearing the almost PD chief fidel, the aegus
17:39
Speaker 1: and more from the chief.
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Speaker 9: We would love for her to be alive.
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Speaker 7: Obviously, there's nothing concrete that says she's not alive. And again,
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Speaker 7: I owe it to the family. We all owe it
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Speaker 7: to the family to speak of her in a way
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Speaker 7: where other people have been found, like I said, injured
17:55
Speaker 7: and distress, lost, troubled, hiding away, all of those things
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Speaker 7: are possible.
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Speaker 1: That from our friends wo Ia News for to Jeff Horny,
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Speaker 1: longtime friend of both Suzanne and husband Brad Simpson, Jeff,
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Speaker 1: do you believe I mean, her youngest child is still
18:17
Speaker 1: in early childhood education that has to be dropped off
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Speaker 1: and picked up. You know, I wonder if he took
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Speaker 1: her that morning, and we have confirmed through the school
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Speaker 1: that he did drop the children off. Okay, so if
18:29
Speaker 1: he dropped them off that morning. He didn't know she
18:32
Speaker 1: was gone because he usually she drops them off. Do
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Speaker 1: you believe that Suzanne would ever not show up to
18:38
Speaker 1: pick her child up from school? No?
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Speaker 9: Absolutely not. Every time, every time we talked, the baby
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Speaker 9: was with her. And you know, if the baby's in
18:49
Speaker 9: a fifth grader now, so it's not she's not a baby,
18:52
Speaker 9: but I'm sorry, she's five. So no. Never. And another
18:57
Speaker 9: thing that I want to mention too is that, you know,
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Speaker 9: it doesn't take in South Texas. It does not take
19:02
Speaker 9: very long to get out to a desolate area. You know,
19:07
Speaker 9: we're an hour away, we're two hours away from the border.
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Speaker 9: You know where there is in South Texas? There are
19:16
Speaker 9: many many ranches and places that that especially now that
19:22
Speaker 9: that his his partner had been arrested, no telling what
19:26
Speaker 9: he did to assist him, you know, so I want
19:31
Speaker 9: to you know remember that too, is that if he
19:34
Speaker 9: had an if he had help, no tell him where
19:37
Speaker 9: she is because again, it doesn't take any time to
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Speaker 9: get to nowhere in South Texas.
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Speaker 1: And just think about it. Just think about it, Jeff,
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Speaker 1: if he asked someone to get I mean, what friend
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Speaker 1: goes along with hiding a potential murder weapon?
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Speaker 9: And he becomes that was there life. Sorry to interrupt you,
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Speaker 9: this was a man that was at dinner parties and
20:02
Speaker 9: and you know, was was considered a friend. And yeah,
20:08
Speaker 9: that's another thing. I don't get that. And I don't
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Speaker 9: understand why the dude their neighbors didn't call the cops.
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Speaker 9: And and that's that's the one that hurts the worst.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, because at the very beginning, and I've seen this, Jeff,
20:23
Speaker 1: in so many cases of domestic abuse, that's really a
20:26
Speaker 1: nice way of putting beating the hell out of the woman.
20:30
Speaker 1: You know, you remember that picture of Nicole Brown Simpson
20:35
Speaker 1: with the huge eye, just black and swollen, and the
20:42
Speaker 1: look on her face. She had been beaten like a
20:46
Speaker 1: yard dog. I mean, that's what domestic abuse is. But
20:53
Speaker 1: so often, Jeff, people hear a scream, they know what's happening,
20:58
Speaker 1: they hear the yelling, and they don't want to get involved.
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Speaker 1: And if if, if, and I'm not faulting the neighbor,
21:07
Speaker 1: because without the neighbor would have nothing right now, but
21:10
Speaker 1: if police had been called at that first scream, maybe,
21:15
Speaker 1: you know, when they first heard the argument, maybe she
21:17
Speaker 1: would be alive. But again, in the neighbor's defense. Sometimes
21:21
Speaker 1: you hear an argument anything, Oh they're arguing.
21:23
Speaker 9: Again, they're having another fight. Yeah, I agree with that.
21:31
Speaker 1: So this is what we know right now. The search
21:36
Speaker 1: has moved. The search has moved and falling up on
21:40
Speaker 1: Jeff Horny just told us to Ben Powers, high profile
21:43
Speaker 1: criminal defense attorney, Ben if he would ask a friend
21:48
Speaker 1: to hide potentially a murder weapon and the friend went
21:52
Speaker 1: along with it, because now he's charged with tampering. If
21:54
Speaker 1: he had said, hell, no, I'm not having a gun
21:58
Speaker 1: for you, then he wouldn't be charged now with evidence tampering.
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Speaker 1: So I'm deducing that he hid the gun. So if
22:07
Speaker 1: he would ask that friend to hide a gun, would
22:10
Speaker 1: he ask someone to hide a body? Think about it?
22:13
Speaker 1: And did you just hear what Jeff said, how close
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Speaker 1: this is to the Mexican border For all I know,
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Speaker 1: she could be across the border right now.
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Speaker 3: Well, So, with the nature of the investigation leading to
22:26
Speaker 3: the charges of the friend that was asked to hide
22:28
Speaker 3: the gun and presumably did hide the gun, that tells
22:32
Speaker 3: us that the investigators have access to mister Simpson's phone,
22:36
Speaker 3: which will include things like GPS data, selping tower data,
22:40
Speaker 3: other ways to track his movements.
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Speaker 9: That night, and.
22:43
Speaker 3: It'll draw a radius of where he went from the
22:46
Speaker 3: home in the key hours following that argument that the
22:49
Speaker 3: neighbor says that they witnessed, and that should help to
22:52
Speaker 3: set some boundaries and some parameters for where should be searched.
22:56
Speaker 3: If mister Simpson has any culpability in Miss Simpson's disappearance.
23:00
Speaker 1: Well you know what beenpowers. Now I see why you
23:02
Speaker 1: win so many cases, Fitz Gibbons. I was just thinking
23:06
Speaker 1: of our mutual acquaintance, Alex Murdog. His own cell phone,
23:13
Speaker 1: his wife's cell phone, his son's cell phone, and his
23:17
Speaker 1: Murdog's NAV system and his state of the art suburban
23:22
Speaker 1: did him in because you can see exactly what time
23:26
Speaker 1: he cranked up that suburban to leave the double murder
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Speaker 1: scene where he left his wife Maggie and son Paul
23:32
Speaker 1: bleeding dead. You can see when he put it in reverse,
23:35
Speaker 1: when he shut the doors, even on that NAV system,
23:38
Speaker 1: when he put it in reverse, then put it in drive,
23:40
Speaker 1: then took off and then slowed down. You can tell
23:44
Speaker 1: he let the passenger window down. These things are awesome.
23:47
Speaker 1: Throws out Maggie's cell phone where it's found on the
23:51
Speaker 1: side of the road. Lit's the window up and continues
23:54
Speaker 1: on to where else, to Mommy's house so he can
23:57
Speaker 1: hide out and have an alibi. There. Now, systems amazing
24:01
Speaker 1: and like powers just said, the power of the paing Right.
24:06
Speaker 1: If he was dumb enough to take his cell phone
24:10
Speaker 1: with him to hide Suzanne's body, we got him. No,
24:14
Speaker 1: actually we don't. Haven't piece gibbons because I think they
24:18
Speaker 1: were looking at those pings and that led them to
24:20
Speaker 1: the landfield where they found nothing.
24:22
Speaker 8: Yeah, and I'll tell you, Nancy, there's an important point
24:24
Speaker 8: to be made here. They may have not found anything
24:27
Speaker 8: at the landfill. These searches are being driven by that data. Additionally,
24:33
Speaker 8: with Caughter, the friend, there's an important thing that we
24:37
Speaker 8: left out here. He said to police that he retrieved
24:41
Speaker 8: a twenty two caliber rifle at Simpson's request.
24:46
Speaker 1: Okay, this is simply not true.
24:47
Speaker 8: This is in the arrest affidavit that they found the
24:50
Speaker 8: eighth a Chinese made AK forty seven, hidden in the
24:53
Speaker 8: wall of his house. So we have two key things
24:56
Speaker 8: to highlight here. Caughter lied to police number one about
25:02
Speaker 8: his assistance as he provided to Simpson. The second thing
25:05
Speaker 8: is that there's an informant involved that led police back
25:09
Speaker 8: to Carter's house. So police are all over this cell
25:13
Speaker 8: phone data, the messages, the payings.
25:15
Speaker 1: All of it.
25:16
Speaker 11: Almost Park PD are desperately searching for a missing mom
25:19
Speaker 11: of four.
25:20
Speaker 1: She was last saying on surveillance outside that Ritzy Argyle club.
25:26
Speaker 11: A neighbor here is allowed arguing from their home.
25:29
Speaker 1: Brent was like trying to hold her down.
25:31
Speaker 11: It looks like Suzanne is trying to get away.
25:34
Speaker 9: And then there was silence, and that's when you hear
25:37
Speaker 9: the screams.
25:38
Speaker 5: Almost Park Police resume their search for Suzanne Simpson in
25:41
Speaker 5: wooded areas in and around Almost Park. Cops have enlisted
25:46
Speaker 5: the help of Texas Search and Rescue and are asking
25:49
Speaker 5: the public to leave the search to the professionals. Foot
25:53
Speaker 5: searchers and dog teams are calling several areas for any
25:57
Speaker 5: trace of Suzanne.
25:58
Speaker 1: Make no mistake about it. This is a huge blow,
26:00
Speaker 1: a huge blow to law enforcement. After days and days
26:04
Speaker 1: in Texas heat looking through a landfill dump, they had
26:08
Speaker 1: to call it off. And they were very clear as
26:11
Speaker 1: they started that search that they believed they would find
26:14
Speaker 1: Susan there. What led them to believe that and why
26:18
Speaker 1: was she not there or could they not find her
26:21
Speaker 1: by the time they had finished the search. That's a
26:24
Speaker 1: huge blow. Now the search has moved to a new location.
26:31
Speaker 1: I guarantee you guided by pings and nav system connected
26:36
Speaker 1: to the husband, Brad Simpson. Also at this time Simpson
26:42
Speaker 1: demanding the court allow him to see his children amidst
26:47
Speaker 1: the search for his missing wife. That chance legal term,
26:53
Speaker 1: snowball chance in hell. There is a no contact order
26:59
Speaker 1: in place. Yes, because remember and it is true very
27:04
Speaker 1: quickly Courtney Lasky. When the husband, the father, the male
27:09
Speaker 1: partner in the home has beaten or abused the mother,
27:14
Speaker 1: then they don't get to have access to the children
27:18
Speaker 1: because they are familial abusers.
27:20
Speaker 10: Absolutely, and this goes back to that characteristic we talked
27:24
Speaker 10: about about that manipulation piece. So right now Brad could
27:27
Speaker 10: be trying to manipulate the media get his perspective of
27:31
Speaker 10: I'm a father, I'm loving, I care for my children.
27:33
Speaker 10: But we know with this behavior that it escalates over
27:37
Speaker 10: time and he might have been demonstrating similar abuse to
27:41
Speaker 10: the children in different ways. It could have been mental
27:43
Speaker 10: verbal abuse.
27:44
Speaker 1: We don't know, but we.
27:45
Speaker 10: Do know that these children need to be protected and
27:48
Speaker 10: until we can prove that he is innocent and he.
27:51
Speaker 1: Is good to these kids. It's not happening straight out
27:54
Speaker 1: to Zach Taylor, right, Zach, tell me the location of
27:58
Speaker 1: the new concentrated search.
28:00
Speaker 4: Currently, law enforcement is searching in wooded areas close to
28:04
Speaker 4: the families Almost Park home, which is on the north
28:07
Speaker 4: side of San Antonio.
28:08
Speaker 1: Now, Zach, isn't it true that that is where the
28:12
Speaker 1: neighbor heard scream?
28:14
Speaker 4: Absolutely The neighbor reported going out to find the couple
28:18
Speaker 4: and hearing the scream just outside their Almost Park home.
28:21
Speaker 1: Well, you're absolutely right. This occurred after the couple came
28:25
Speaker 1: home from that ritzy country club dinner club aka drinking
28:29
Speaker 1: club the Argyle Listen.
28:31
Speaker 11: An hour after Brad and Suzanne Simpson return home from
28:34
Speaker 11: dinner at the Argyle, a neighbor hears loud arguing from
28:37
Speaker 11: their home. The yelling seems to get louder, and the
28:40
Speaker 11: neighbor peeks out of their windows, shocked to see the
28:42
Speaker 11: Simpsons in a physical fight outside their home. It looks
28:45
Speaker 11: like Suzanne, still dressed from dinner, is trying to get away,
28:48
Speaker 11: but Brad Simpson keeps pulling her back. The couple eventually
28:51
Speaker 11: moves out of the neighbor's side line.
28:53
Speaker 1: Jeff Horny joining me along with that tail or. Right, Jeff,
28:57
Speaker 1: longtime friend of both Suzanne and the husband Rad Simpson. Jeff,
29:01
Speaker 1: have you ever seen the home in which they're currently living.
29:05
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yes, tell me about the home, and I
29:09
Speaker 1: want to also hear about the forest, the heavily wooded
29:12
Speaker 1: area surrounding the home.
29:14
Speaker 9: Well, again, the home is in the on the main street.
29:17
Speaker 9: It's on Almas Drive, the main street of this of
29:22
Speaker 9: this area, and behind their house, as you can see,
29:26
Speaker 9: there's some wooded area. But also I guess it would
29:31
Speaker 9: be north of their house is a highway two eighty
29:36
Speaker 9: one and underneath that, right, I'm talking almost directly where
29:41
Speaker 9: they live, is a it's a dam. It's a it's
29:44
Speaker 9: a it's called the Almus Dam, and there are it's
29:49
Speaker 9: a creek bed and if water was running through there,
29:52
Speaker 9: there's no way that they anything would stick around, I
29:56
Speaker 9: don't think. But there's it's they have to come a
30:00
Speaker 9: lot of area. I don't know the exact acreage of
30:04
Speaker 9: the Alma's basin, but it's a it's a large it's
30:11
Speaker 9: a large area, and there's a lot of woods, and
30:17
Speaker 9: you know, some homeless folks live out in the woods,
30:20
Speaker 9: and you know, they even found a firearm out there
30:26
Speaker 9: from somebody else. So I guess if you were to
30:30
Speaker 9: hide a body somewhere, that would be a good place.
30:32
Speaker 1: You know, they've got to bring out the cadaver dogs,
30:34
Speaker 1: and it's very very difficult to bring dogs into that terrain,
30:38
Speaker 1: very heavily wooded area. We're talking about a thirty two
30:42
Speaker 1: square mile area. Seemingly impossible. Brian Fitzgibbons, We've heard from
30:48
Speaker 1: Jeff Horny about the exterior and the forest terrain outside
30:55
Speaker 1: the home, as well as a dam. But Brian Fitzgibbons,
30:59
Speaker 1: you pointed out something very very interesting to me about
31:03
Speaker 1: the location of that ak. Tell me that.
31:06
Speaker 8: Nancy so Brad Simpson texted his friend and business associate,
31:12
Speaker 8: James Val Catter, apparently to move a firearm.
31:16
Speaker 9: Now police were in.
31:18
Speaker 8: Catter's residence speaking to him as early as October tenth.
31:23
Speaker 8: At that time, Carter told police that he moved a
31:25
Speaker 8: twenty two caliber rifle for his friend Brad Simpson. This
31:30
Speaker 8: has turned out in the arrest affidavit to appear to
31:33
Speaker 8: be a lie.
31:34
Speaker 1: Police, with the.
31:35
Speaker 8: Assistance of a canine specifically trained to detect firearms, alerted
31:41
Speaker 8: on a wall that had a TV mounted to it
31:45
Speaker 8: in Carter's residence. Police removed a portrait of that wall
31:48
Speaker 8: and found an AK forty seven that had belonged to
31:51
Speaker 8: Brad Simpson stuffed and hidden behind that wall.
32:01
Speaker 12: Mom of fours, Suzanne Simpson is a no show, failing
32:06
Speaker 12: to pick up her children from school. Her husband reports
32:10
Speaker 12: her missing. Where is Suzanne? Stephen Gilmour posttholes in the
32:16
Speaker 12: Simpsons neighbors statement to police. Gilmore asserts that a person
32:20
Speaker 12: invested enough to leave their home with a flashlight to
32:23
Speaker 12: search for a fighting couple would have called police after
32:26
Speaker 12: hearing screams. Gilmore also points out that Suzanne's phone last
32:30
Speaker 12: pinged a half mile from her home at seven to
32:32
Speaker 12: fifteen am Monday morning, not lining up with the neighbour's timeline,
32:36
Speaker 12: which suggests Brad Simpson discarded his wife's body and belongings
32:39
Speaker 12: late Sunday night.
32:40
Speaker 1: I agree and disagree with the defense attorney's attack. All
32:46
Speaker 1: the state's eyewitness or ear witnesses are going to be
32:50
Speaker 1: attacked on cross examination. That is a given. So that
32:55
Speaker 1: witness straight out to you, Ben Powers, is going to
32:58
Speaker 1: be attacked. And the defense attorney's got a little something
33:01
Speaker 1: to work with if he went out and looking with
33:03
Speaker 1: a flashlight. Why didn't he call police? Well, I don't
33:07
Speaker 1: know why he didn't call police, but that does not
33:09
Speaker 1: mean he didn't see or hear what he saw and heard.
33:13
Speaker 3: Well, so it might mean that he didn't see what
33:15
Speaker 3: he claims he saw and heard. You know, there's obstructions
33:18
Speaker 3: in the photos that have been shown to the home,
33:20
Speaker 3: as far as there's a fence line, there's trees in
33:23
Speaker 3: front of the house, other factors like it was late
33:26
Speaker 3: at night, so the lighting might have been bad. And
33:29
Speaker 3: then there's the glaring issue of the neighbor never reported anything.
33:32
Speaker 3: You know, the first person to report that Susanne Simpson
33:35
Speaker 3: was missing was Brad And it's actually Brad's report that
33:39
Speaker 3: brought the police to the neighbor town.
33:43
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why because
33:47
Speaker 1: the witness was very clear that he could see them
33:50
Speaker 1: and then arguing in the driveway and then they walked
33:55
Speaker 1: out of his sight line behind some trees. That is
33:58
Speaker 1: rich in details, seems believable. Also, I'm pretty sure the
34:05
Speaker 1: police had gone to his vantage point to determine whether
34:07
Speaker 1: he could see what he says he saw. And also
34:10
Speaker 1: Jeff Horny, a long time friend of Susan and Anne
34:13
Speaker 1: Brad Simpson's. She left that posh club. She was walking off.
34:21
Speaker 1: Let's see that photo alone in her nice outfit. She
34:25
Speaker 1: was stomping out of there for a reason. Okay. It
34:29
Speaker 1: wasn't like her husband was escorting her politely to the car.
34:32
Speaker 1: There she goes, she's there with him and she's leaving alone,
34:38
Speaker 1: all right. That tells me they were having an argument.
34:40
Speaker 9: Yeah, don't forget that she had. She evidently somewhere in
34:44
Speaker 9: between here and the house, she called her mother, and
34:47
Speaker 9: her mother said that she was saying that Brad had
34:52
Speaker 9: struck her in the stomach, and I guess had hit
34:56
Speaker 9: her a couple of times and she was hurting. So
35:01
Speaker 9: you know, her mother was the last one to talk
35:03
Speaker 9: to her, I assume in between that time. So you know,
35:09
Speaker 9: so we know that that he there was more going
35:13
Speaker 9: on than just a little pushing and shoving, you know,
35:17
Speaker 9: not that and that even that's not right.
35:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that leads up to what the neighbor says
35:22
Speaker 1: he observed in the in the driveway. Okay, And we
35:27
Speaker 1: know the single most dangerous time for a woman is
35:31
Speaker 1: a when she's pregnant, which homicide the number one cause
35:35
Speaker 1: of death for pregnant women not blood pressure or heart attack, homicide.
35:40
Speaker 1: And two when she's trying to leave an abusive situation.
35:44
Speaker 1: Then on top of it all, if my husband was missing,
35:49
Speaker 1: I would be lying on the courthouse steps screaming, find
35:55
Speaker 1: my husband, help me. But what is he doing? He's
36:00
Speaker 1: the one cooperative. Listen.
36:03
Speaker 11: Both Suzanne and Brad Simpson's families have condemned his behavior publicly.
36:07
Speaker 11: Brother Barton Simpson took to Facebook with a strongly warded
36:10
Speaker 11: post quote, until Brad chooses to operate, we will continue
36:14
Speaker 11: to cooperate for him as we have from the very
36:16
Speaker 11: beginning of this heartbreaking ordeal. This is not how he
36:20
Speaker 11: was raised, and this is not who we are. Brad's
36:22
Speaker 11: refusal to cooperate is unacceptable. Simpson's brother went on to
36:26
Speaker 11: say their family is shattered and we'll stop at nothing
36:29
Speaker 11: to bring Suzanne home.
36:31
Speaker 13: Suzanne and I had an opportunity to talk for an
36:35
Speaker 13: hour before a lot of this has happened. My speculation
36:39
Speaker 13: is maybe the whole thing is alcohol related, because when
36:45
Speaker 13: she got back, she called me up and told me
36:48
Speaker 13: the things that Brad had done to her physically. Well,
36:52
Speaker 13: I came up with an alternative plan for her, the
36:54
Speaker 13: hope that she'd move in with me and have her
36:58
Speaker 13: little coddler go to the elementary school in my neighborhood.
37:02
Speaker 13: I never got to tell her the plan.
37:04
Speaker 1: That is from Suzanne's mother and from our friends at
37:07
Speaker 1: WAI News for Jeff Horny, longtime friend of Suzanne, and
37:14
Speaker 1: Brad Simpson's that's what you were telling us, that the
37:19
Speaker 1: mom learned he had punched Suzanne and the stomach and more.
37:25
Speaker 1: And you know, Jeff, I learned this not only from
37:29
Speaker 1: the batter Women's Center there in Atlanta, but from all
37:33
Speaker 1: the years of prosecuting. It's not a statistic, it's anecdotal
37:37
Speaker 1: for me that when a woman has in place a plan,
37:41
Speaker 1: and the mom had a plan to move in with her,
37:45
Speaker 1: and they were going to put the little girl, the
37:47
Speaker 1: five year old, into the local school right down the
37:50
Speaker 1: street from the grandma, but they didn't have time to
37:57
Speaker 1: implement the plan.
37:59
Speaker 9: We're talking about it. You know, if missus Clark had
38:06
Speaker 9: a little more time, maybe she could have gone and
38:08
Speaker 9: picked him up. Or it's just tragic.
38:11
Speaker 5: Man.
38:11
Speaker 9: I can't even imagine, you know, Suzanne was a little
38:15
Speaker 9: tiny thing. I can't imagine these two guys, you know,
38:20
Speaker 9: throwing her body around and all these different different trash cans,
38:24
Speaker 9: and it's terrible. She didn't deserve that at all.
38:29
Speaker 1: Jeff Horny, my thoughts exactly. And as Zach Tailorwright was
38:36
Speaker 1: telling us earlier, Jeff the husband said, quote, I don't
38:43
Speaker 1: have much time. His business partner hid an AK forty
38:48
Speaker 1: seven for him before this whole thing cracked wide open.
38:55
Speaker 1: The thought of an AK forty seven in the same
39:00
Speaker 1: sentence with Suzanne is just it. It's beyond words. Jeff,
39:08
Speaker 1: I have.
39:08
Speaker 9: A question for you. How why can't the Why can't
39:15
Speaker 9: they go to Brad and say, look, you, your gig
39:20
Speaker 9: is up. Tell us where she I don't understand why
39:23
Speaker 9: they can't go to him and and and and get
39:26
Speaker 9: him to tell her where, tell us where she is.
39:30
Speaker 1: He's done. I'll tell you that. I'll tell you because
39:35
Speaker 1: once he admits he knows where is her body, that
39:41
Speaker 1: means he put her there, That means he killed her.
39:45
Speaker 1: And right now, cops don't have a body, and many
39:49
Speaker 1: people believe no body, no case. He's actually sitting in
39:52
Speaker 1: a cell right now thinking he's going to beat this
39:56
Speaker 1: thing if he and his buddy can keep there. Yet shut.
40:00
Speaker 1: He may just be right, that's why. And just like
40:05
Speaker 1: in his last sentence, I don't have much time. It's
40:07
Speaker 1: all about me, Me, me, me, help me. Forget about Susanne,
40:12
Speaker 1: Forget about her decomposing body. Forget about the little five
40:16
Speaker 1: year old girl wanting mommy, seeing mommy beaten up with
40:19
Speaker 1: bruises and taking her cell phone away. That's her last
40:23
Speaker 1: memory of mommy. And he is sitting in a cell
40:27
Speaker 1: right now, gnashing his teeth and switching his tail, wondering
40:31
Speaker 1: how can I beat this rap? That's why. If you
40:38
Speaker 1: know or think you know anything about the disappearance of
40:42
Speaker 1: Susanne Clark Simpson, we beg you to call Detective Hector
40:47
Speaker 1: Ruiz to one zero to zero, nine to seven zero one,
40:52
Speaker 1: repeat to one zero two zero nine two seven zero one,
40:59
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace ending off, goodbye friend,