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TX Mom, Luxury Realtor Missing After Ritzy Private Club: “Screams, Then Silence” · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:00
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, a gorgeous Texas mother of four,
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Speaker 1: a luxury realtor missing after a visit to a ritzy
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Speaker 1: private club. Screams then silence, according to neighbors, I'm Nancy Grace.
0:21
Speaker 1: This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.
0:25
Speaker 1: Mom of fours, Suzanne Simpson is a no show, failing
0:30
Speaker 1: to pick up her children from school. Her husband reports
0:34
Speaker 1: her missing. Where is Suzanne?
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Speaker 2: So we're holding out hope that maybe, you know, maybe
0:41
Speaker 2: she's trying to be away from the home, to get
0:44
Speaker 2: away from that situation. That's not totally uncommon, but what
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Speaker 2: is in common. What is unusual is that this was
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Speaker 2: a woman who worked and was very dependable and loved
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Speaker 2: her children and was always in contact with her children
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Speaker 2: and her family and her friends.
1:00
Speaker 3: Where is Suzanne?
1:03
Speaker 1: What you just heard is from our friends at WAI
1:07
Speaker 1: News for and that was the almost PD chief del
1:11
Speaker 1: vi Legas.
1:12
Speaker 3: Everyone, thank you for being with us tonight.
1:14
Speaker 1: Tonight, the search has been excruciating for a beautiful mom,
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Speaker 1: Suzanne Clark Simpson.
1:25
Speaker 3: This is what we know.
1:27
Speaker 1: She and husband go to a ritzya club, they have dinner.
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Speaker 1: Video evidence has emerged of her leaving the last known
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Speaker 1: shot of her wearing a black, short sleeved apparently wrap
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Speaker 1: around dress, a pair of nude heels.
1:50
Speaker 3: There we go, a.
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Speaker 1: Chunky bracelet or watch on her right hand, her shoulder
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Speaker 1: length hair down. And notice it's in daylight, the early
2:02
Speaker 1: evening hours.
2:05
Speaker 3: Why is it that in the last hours a.
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Speaker 1: Search through a dump full of trash is being conducted?
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Speaker 3: Again, thank you for being with us. What do we know?
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Speaker 1: First of all, take a listen again to almost Pdchiefy
2:24
Speaker 1: delvi Legas.
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Speaker 2: Would love for her to be alive. Obviously, there's nothing
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Speaker 2: concrete that says she's not alive. And again I owe
2:31
Speaker 2: it to the family. We all owe it to the
2:32
Speaker 2: family to speak of her in a way where other
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Speaker 2: people have been found, like I said, injured and distressed, lost, troubled,
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Speaker 2: hiding away, all of those things are possible.
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Speaker 3: Yes, possible, true, but probable.
2:47
Speaker 1: Not from our friends at WAI News for with me
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Speaker 1: an all star panel to make sense of what we
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Speaker 1: know tonight, straight out first to a renowned forensic psychologist,
2:58
Speaker 1: owner doctor Long and associates, doctor Lisa Long joining us,
3:04
Speaker 1: Doctor Lisa Long, I hear what the chief is saying,
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Speaker 1: and he's right, But can we just be practical for
3:12
Speaker 1: one moment, not one time in Susanne Clark Simpson's history
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Speaker 1: has she left her children alone.
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Speaker 3: And some of these are small children.
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Speaker 4: Right, That's certainly what makes it most concerning is that
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Speaker 4: it's not characteristic of her.
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Speaker 3: Guys, this is what we know.
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Speaker 1: We know that she was last seen on surveillance outside
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Speaker 1: that Ritzy Argyle club members only very posh, but then
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Speaker 1: screams were heard later, chilling screams.
3:44
Speaker 3: There's the Argyle. So what do we know?
3:47
Speaker 1: Straight out to Marisa Mendoza joining us investigative reporter at
3:52
Speaker 1: News for San Antonio, who has been on the case
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Speaker 1: from the very beginning. And of course I don't say
3:58
Speaker 1: the story. This is not a story.
4:00
Speaker 3: This is real.
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Speaker 1: There are children looking for mom, and right now we
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Speaker 1: know that LA law enforcement is digging through and this
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Speaker 1: is so hard to do. This an art and a
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Speaker 1: science to it. I'm going to go to Brian Fitzgibbons
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Speaker 1: on that in a moment searching through a landfill a dump,
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Speaker 1: can you imagine three four five feet tall of trash
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Speaker 1: in certain areas there you see they are coming through
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Speaker 1: it with rakes. That's from our forends at kabb and
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Speaker 1: Wai and that's just the beginning.
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Speaker 3: Many of the workers have to wear. Oh, dear Lord
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Speaker 3: in Heaven, that's what I'm talking about.
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Speaker 1: Three four feet deep of trash from all over the area,
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Speaker 1: rotting food, baby diapers that have been out in the
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Speaker 1: sun for weeks.
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Speaker 3: Refuse everything.
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Speaker 1: There's probably rodents in there, rats and they are How
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Speaker 1: in the day are they gonna find Suzanne and all
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Speaker 1: of that too. Marisa Mendoza Masa, thank you so much
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Speaker 1: again for being with us and needs for San Antonio.
5:19
Speaker 1: Let's start at the beginning. Tell me about the night
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Speaker 1: that she and her husband are at the Argyle. What
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Speaker 1: is the Argyle?
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Speaker 5: Well, Nancy, the Argyle is a very exclusive club in
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Speaker 5: San Antonio. Only members joined there. It's a very high
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Speaker 5: membership to join that club. Suzanne and Brad were invited
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Speaker 5: to a party there they attended. I spoke to her
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Speaker 5: mother over the weekend and the mother said that Suzanne
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Speaker 5: had initially called her saying, hey, can you come and
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Speaker 5: watch the kids? Her youngest is five, and her mom
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Speaker 5: may have said I'm busy. Suzanne said, I'll figure it out.
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Speaker 5: She figured it out. She went to the party and
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Speaker 5: then Brad followed or vice versa from a.
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Speaker 1: Wet just on moment, I want to circle back to
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Speaker 1: the argyawin moment, I understand that they devote all the
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Speaker 1: money they make from fees and events to research medical research.
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Speaker 1: Now you look at this and it looks amazing. It
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Speaker 1: looks like you might see Prince William and Kate there.
6:27
Speaker 3: But here's the reality, isn't it true?
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Speaker 1: Brian Fitzgibbons joining me, Director Operations, USPA Nationwide Security Specialty
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Speaker 1: finding Missing People. Brian, you can be rolling in money,
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Speaker 1: you are still not insulated from.
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Speaker 3: Crime, Nancy.
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Speaker 6: It's a common misperception that your status or wealth insulates
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Speaker 6: you from this type of event happening, and all too
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Speaker 6: often we see it in all types of communities.
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Speaker 7: So you can be be the poorest.
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Speaker 3: Of the pitches of the rich, you know. Marisa Mendoza
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Speaker 3: again joining US News for San Antonio. I want to
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Speaker 3: go back to that evening.
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Speaker 1: So she's there at this event, everything's going beautifully.
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Speaker 3: Then we see her leaving.
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Speaker 1: Now, that, as I said, was the last video surveillance
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Speaker 1: or photo that happened to catch her leaving, But it
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Speaker 1: wasn't quite the last time she was spotted.
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Speaker 8: Listen almost Park PD are desperately searching for a missing
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Speaker 8: mom of four. Suzanne Simpson fifty one, is a white female,
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Speaker 8: approximately five foot five, one hundred and forty pounds, with
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Speaker 8: hazel eyes and brown hair hitting just below her shoulders.
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Speaker 8: Suzanne was last seen outside her East Almost drive home
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Speaker 8: Sunday evening after having a dinner at the Argyle, a
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Speaker 8: private club in Alamo Heights. Suzanne was last seen wearing
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Speaker 8: a black short sleeve dress, nude chunky heels, and a
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Speaker 8: watcher bracelet on her right wrist.
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Speaker 1: So actually Marisa neighbors saw her after she came home
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Speaker 1: from the Argyle, is that correct?
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Speaker 5: So a neighbor from across the street heard arguing and fighting,
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Speaker 5: so he looked out his widow and saw the couple
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Speaker 5: fighting outside of their home. He had said to police
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Speaker 5: that I saw them. They were Brad was like trying
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Speaker 5: to hold her down, and then he couldn't see because
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Speaker 5: it was late at night. Then there was silence, and
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Speaker 5: then he went outside and followed them and that's when
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Speaker 5: he heard the screams. And that's all that happened that
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Speaker 5: he told police about that night.
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Speaker 3: What was the neighbor doing up?
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Speaker 1: What attracted the neighbor's attention because there wasn't anything loud.
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Speaker 1: How did the neighbor look out and happened to see
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Speaker 1: this altercation, this verbal argument.
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Speaker 5: Well, Nance, you have to imagine a neighborhood like almost Park.
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Speaker 5: It's very quiet and usually when you hear something arguing,
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Speaker 5: loud arguing, you will hear it. Because that neighbor lived
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Speaker 5: in a very small apartment building. There's probably it's two levels,
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Speaker 5: maybe for four or five units. So it's a very
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Speaker 5: quiet area. And he was curious enough to go outside
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Speaker 5: with a flashlight. He found nothing.
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Speaker 3: Tell me about the neighborhood, Nancy.
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Speaker 5: The neighborhood is upper class neighborhood. The homes they arrange
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Speaker 5: it over half a million to probably upwards of two million,
9:39
Speaker 5: if not more. I know that the Simpsons home is
9:42
Speaker 5: valued at about one point three million dollars, so it's
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Speaker 5: an area that is coveted. It's very well to do.
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Speaker 5: Most of the folks there are like the Simpsons. They
9:54
Speaker 5: are upper class. They take very much pride in their community,
10:00
Speaker 5: their families. They're very involved in church, in school. Just
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Speaker 5: like Suzanne, she was involved in the PTA. She was
10:08
Speaker 5: very involved in her children's lives. It's very very disheartening
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Speaker 5: for her little girl. I have a little girl that's
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Speaker 5: the same age, so I can't imagine what her children
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Speaker 5: are going through.
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Speaker 3: Ry So where did they get all the money? Where
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Speaker 3: did the money come from to have that nice, you know,
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Speaker 3: million and a half dollar home.
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Speaker 5: We've been told by community members that both families are
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Speaker 5: very well to do. When I did a search on them,
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Speaker 5: there were leans on the couple over the past few years.
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Speaker 5: They were sued by American Express. So not all that
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Speaker 5: glitters is gold.
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Speaker 3: With me right now.
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Speaker 1: Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University,
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Speaker 1: author of Blood Beneath My Fate on Amazon and Starve
10:53
Speaker 1: Here series Body Bags with Joe Scott Morgan, WHOA, I
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Speaker 1: just heard something new. They had a lean from American Express.
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Speaker 1: You know those American Express spending limits can be thirty
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Speaker 1: forty fifty thousand dollars, so when you get a lien
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Speaker 1: that means you're over that limit. I believe it's you,
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Speaker 1: Joe Scott that has often said murders can be about
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Speaker 1: sex or money. Essentially, that's it. I disagree with that,
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Speaker 1: by the way, but money. Who would know somebody living
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Speaker 1: in a nearly two million dollar mansion, having their evening
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Speaker 1: at the Argyle has a lien on them from AMEX.
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Speaker 7: Living beyond their means when you think about that, if
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Speaker 7: you're loading up credit cards in order to maintain a
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Speaker 7: certain status, and as our colleague just mentioned, to go
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Speaker 7: painting this picture of this environment in which they live,
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Speaker 7: this home, this nice home one point five I guess
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Speaker 7: one point two million dollar home. And then on top
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Speaker 7: of the all of the wealth that they're surrounded by,
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Speaker 7: simply based upon this party that they attend. You know,
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Speaker 7: they're not going to invite somebody like me to a
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Speaker 7: party like that. You know, you're going to have to
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Speaker 7: have wealth, status, that sort of thing. So in order
12:16
Speaker 7: to maintain that lifestyle, maybe you're using the plastic a lot,
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Speaker 7: And of course that can create tension and nancy. As
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Speaker 7: you well stated, I've worked cases involving certainly passion, we've
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Speaker 7: covered those, but money many times is a driver. There's
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Speaker 7: a lot of anger, tension that comes along with that,
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Speaker 7: and sometimes sometimes those events can turn quite violent.
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Speaker 9: Neighbors, here's screams, then a mama for goes missing. What
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Speaker 9: happened to Suzanne Simpson? Monday afternoon, Brad Simpson gets a
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Speaker 9: call from his youngest child.
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Speaker 10: School staff are concerned because his wife, Suzanne is now
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Speaker 10: almost thirty minutes late picking up their kindergartener and isn't
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Speaker 10: answering her phone. Simpson picks up his daughter, then makes
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Speaker 10: several calls. No one has heard from Suzanne, and coworkers
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Speaker 10: say she wasn't in the office.
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Speaker 3: Brad Simpson reports his wife missing. Ben Power is joining me.
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Speaker 1: High profile criminal defense attorney joining us out of Tennessee.
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Speaker 3: Ben, Thank you for being with us. Ben. Why is
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Speaker 3: it that so many dads don't know when pickup is?
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Speaker 3: That's a good question.
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Speaker 11: I don't know when my own child's pickup is, But
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Speaker 11: I think that when you're ever seens like it sounds
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Speaker 11: like the Simpsons had that was miss Simpson's responsibility or
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Speaker 11: something that she did regularly. So obviously it was uncommon
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Speaker 11: that she was not there on time and that her
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Speaker 11: child was still waiting there to the point that they
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Speaker 11: had to call it.
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Speaker 1: I can't hear anything you're saying because of what you
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Speaker 1: blurted out at the beginning.
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Speaker 3: How old are your children, Ben Powers?
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Speaker 11: I have a twelve year old and a four year old.
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Speaker 1: Okay, the twelve year old probably gets out around three
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Speaker 1: point fifteen, Just just so you know. Now the younger one,
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Speaker 1: you'll have to ask your wife. I guess so, Ben Powers.
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Speaker 1: I'm very curious. Why do I keep hearing, Oh, I
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Speaker 1: didn't know she was gone till they call me from
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Speaker 1: the school.
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Speaker 3: Nobody picked up the kid. How can you not know
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Speaker 3: she's gone? Does that mean she was home that morning
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Speaker 3: and made some wopples? Does that mean you saw her
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Speaker 3: run out of the door to go to work. Where's
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Speaker 3: her card? As you have a crash? What he doesn't
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Speaker 3: know she's gone? How can that be?
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Speaker 11: I think one explanation would be that they did have
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Speaker 11: this argument on Sunday night and hadn't seen each other since,
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Speaker 11: because as I understand that, mister Simpson left the home
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Speaker 11: that night, and he may have just assumed that the
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Speaker 11: normal routine would still be in place. And then when
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Speaker 11: this phone call came from the school, that's what first
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Speaker 11: ted him up that I need to make some phone calls.
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Speaker 11: I need to find Suzanne. And then ultimately he reported
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Speaker 11: to the police that she was missing.
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Speaker 3: After you made those.
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Speaker 1: Phone calls and wait, like that's normal, Empowers, that the husband,
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Speaker 1: the dad just leaves and just says, I'm not gonna
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Speaker 1: worry about the four children. I'm sure she'll take care
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Speaker 1: of everything to hay with them.
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Speaker 3: See, I have a problem right that I don't know.
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Speaker 3: I don't know him, but I already don't like him.
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Speaker 1: If anything you just said is true. So if you
15:26
Speaker 1: have to defend this case, please do not work that
15:28
Speaker 1: out in front of a jury.
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Speaker 12: Okay, that he had no idea, He just assumed they'd
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Speaker 12: get to school. But I got a question, Marisa Mendoza
15:39
Speaker 12: joining us from news for San Antonio, if she was
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Speaker 12: supposed to pick the children up, and he just.
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Speaker 3: Went, why where is she at three o'clock? Who took
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Speaker 3: the children that morning?
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Speaker 5: Well, I'm glad you asked me because your mom mentioned
15:55
Speaker 5: the fact that Brad had called her and said I
15:58
Speaker 5: took the kids to school in the morning. So it's
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Speaker 5: interesting that he got a call from the school saying
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Speaker 5: that Suzanne had not been by to pick up their
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Speaker 5: youngest child. Her mother.
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Speaker 3: You know much. You know what I bet, Marisa?
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Speaker 1: I bet you not a betting person, So I go
16:17
Speaker 1: with one hundred dollars.
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Speaker 3: I bet you one hundred dollars.
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Speaker 1: He didn't normally take them to school, so if he
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Speaker 1: takes him to school, which it would be an odd occurrence,
16:28
Speaker 1: especially has been powers pointed out. He left a home
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Speaker 1: and a huff the night before after the argument. How
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Speaker 1: did he know to come take the children to school?
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Speaker 1: He came back home?
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Speaker 3: Was she there then? Okay?
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Speaker 1: The whole drop off pickup thing is something to be examined.
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Speaker 1: But Marisa Mendoza question, so he realizes the piano hits
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Speaker 1: some of the head. Where is Suzanne at pickup time?
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Speaker 1: When did he report her missing?
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Speaker 5: Shortly after? I guess he picked up his child.
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Speaker 1: Okay, Brian Fitzgibbons, that is to his credit, because so often, Brian,
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Speaker 1: we see cases where the missing mom is not reported
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Speaker 1: missing for hours and hours, even days. Okay, days go
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Speaker 1: by and then finally, usually coworkers report the mom missing.
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Speaker 1: But you have the dad here or the husband reporting
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Speaker 1: her missing as soon as he says he realizes.
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Speaker 3: She's gone at pickup time. So that's something, right.
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Speaker 6: I don't see it as a good mark in his case, Nancy,
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Speaker 6: because what we have is an immovable object. Suzanne was
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Speaker 6: set to be seen on the afternoon of Monday, October seventh.
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Speaker 3: He would have known that, all right, So she.
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Speaker 6: Was expected at that time and at that location.
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Speaker 1: Now the neighbor thinks he sees her out the window.
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Speaker 1: He thinks that here's an argument. But let's circle back
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Speaker 1: to that moment.
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Speaker 3: Listen.
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Speaker 8: An hour after Brad and Suzanne Simpson return home from
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Speaker 8: dinner at the Argyle, a neighbor hears loud arguing from
18:12
Speaker 8: their home. The yelling seems to get louder, and the
18:14
Speaker 8: neighbor peeks out of their window, shocked to see the
18:17
Speaker 8: Simpsons in a physical fight outside their home. It looks
18:20
Speaker 8: like Suzanne, still dressed from dinner, is trying to get away,
18:23
Speaker 8: but Brad Simpson keeps pulling her back. The couple eventually
18:26
Speaker 8: moves out of the neighbor's sight line.
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Speaker 1: So they're having somewhat of physical altercation right there in
18:33
Speaker 1: the driveway. And I want to ask again, Marisa, is
18:36
Speaker 1: the neighbors places you have a balcony?
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Speaker 3: Was he looking out the window? It was at night?
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Speaker 1: Could he see and what does he mean by they
18:45
Speaker 1: moved out of his sight line?
18:48
Speaker 3: I want to make sure he had a sight line.
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Speaker 1: To start with, because, oh, Maurice, I'm sure you've seen
18:54
Speaker 1: it before. How eyewitnesses are attacked. Tell me about what
18:58
Speaker 1: would have been his sight line and what does he
19:01
Speaker 1: mean that they moved out of it.
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Speaker 5: He is probably one of the residents that faces the
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Speaker 5: Simpsons home, so he says that he was looking outside
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Speaker 5: of his bedroom window when they moved out of his sightline.
19:15
Speaker 5: They probably that's when they went into the wooded area,
19:18
Speaker 5: which is across the street. In that wooded area, there's
19:21
Speaker 5: a trail that residents typically like to walk, So maybe
19:25
Speaker 5: that's I'm assuming where they went. That's why police searched
19:29
Speaker 5: that area extensively last week.
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Speaker 1: Benpowers, veteran criminal defense attorney, joining us tonight. Then there
19:36
Speaker 1: are so many attacks on eyewitnesses by the other side.
19:41
Speaker 1: It can be either side that In many jurisdictions, that
19:44
Speaker 1: attack is actually codified. In other words, it's in the code,
19:49
Speaker 1: the official annotated criminal code of the jurisdiction. For instance,
19:56
Speaker 1: an eyewitness can be attacked on the vision, the lighting,
20:01
Speaker 1: the distance from which they see the individual, or the
20:06
Speaker 1: event their history. Had they ever had incidance before where
20:11
Speaker 1: they could not see something they claimed.
20:14
Speaker 3: That they saw. It's in the criminal code. It's so
20:20
Speaker 3: often done, is so typical.
20:23
Speaker 1: So I want to nail down everything I can about
20:26
Speaker 1: this eyewitness how would you attack the eyewitness if.
20:30
Speaker 11: What they saw was so concerning and so certain? And
20:33
Speaker 11: why didn't they do anything at a more fresh point
20:36
Speaker 11: that same night? Why they wait for police to come
20:38
Speaker 11: to them with questions instead of going to police to
20:41
Speaker 11: report this instant that they say that they saw with
20:44
Speaker 11: such detail. And so that's where I think their most
20:47
Speaker 11: vulnerable is just the fact that they're now saying this
20:51
Speaker 11: was so obvious, this was so concerning, but they didn't
20:55
Speaker 11: do anything at all. They went out, I think that
20:58
Speaker 11: the flashlight and then just went home and went to bed,
21:02
Speaker 11: And so I think that's where I first would bring
21:06
Speaker 11: out the questions about this witness. But then also the distance,
21:09
Speaker 11: the lighting, the lack of lighting, any objects like trees
21:13
Speaker 11: or bushes or vehicles that are in the way. You know,
21:16
Speaker 11: what did they actually see and where are they filling
21:19
Speaker 11: in with what they think they saw?
21:21
Speaker 9: An extensive search underway in the woods surrounding Susanne Simpson's home,
21:28
Speaker 9: where is the mom of four?
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Speaker 3: Suzanne and I had an opportunity to.
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Speaker 13: Talk for an hour before a lot.
21:36
Speaker 3: Of this has happened. My speculation is.
21:40
Speaker 13: Maybe the whole thing is alcohol related, because when she
21:45
Speaker 13: got back she called me up and told me the
21:48
Speaker 13: things that Brad had done to her physically. Well, I
21:52
Speaker 13: came up with an alternative plan for her, and I
21:54
Speaker 13: hope that she'd move in with me and have her
21:58
Speaker 13: little coddler go to the elementary school in my neighborhood.
22:01
Speaker 3: But I never got to tell her the plan.
22:04
Speaker 1: The single most dangerous for a time for a woman
22:09
Speaker 1: is when she attempts to leave. You just heard from
22:15
Speaker 1: Suzanne's mother, Barbara Clark from our friends at WAI News
22:21
Speaker 1: for doctor Lisa Long is joining me psychologist at doctor
22:26
Speaker 1: Lisa Long dot com.
22:29
Speaker 3: Doctor Lisa.
22:32
Speaker 1: Other than when you're pregnant, which is one of the
22:38
Speaker 1: top two most dangerous times in a woman's life when
22:43
Speaker 1: you're pregnant, So much violence occurs on women when they
22:47
Speaker 1: are pregnant, when they announce they're pregnant during the pregnancy.
22:52
Speaker 1: The other time that it's equally as dangerous is when
22:56
Speaker 1: the woman attempts to leave an argument or a bad relationship.
23:01
Speaker 3: True false, Yes, that.
23:02
Speaker 4: Is true, Nancy, that is true. And we hear now
23:06
Speaker 4: that there were other stressors in the couple's relationship, including
23:09
Speaker 4: financial stressors. All of those things are concerning.
23:14
Speaker 1: Explain to me, doctor lay so long, renowned psychologist, forensic psychologist.
23:20
Speaker 3: Why is it?
23:21
Speaker 1: And of course I don't expect you to crawl into
23:24
Speaker 1: the mind of a perpetrator, but why is it that
23:28
Speaker 1: during the pregnancy and when a woman tries to leave
23:32
Speaker 1: either the relationship or an argument, why are those two
23:36
Speaker 1: times the single most dangerous times in a woman's life statistically?
23:42
Speaker 14: Well, I mean we can look at the cycle of abuse,
23:45
Speaker 14: and so typically when a woman makes that choice and
23:48
Speaker 14: she's making motions to actually to actually leave, that is
23:53
Speaker 14: when the perpetrator or the partner oftentimes anti ups, you know,
23:58
Speaker 14: and the abuse in increases.
24:00
Speaker 4: So that is why it's often more dangerous. The perpetrator
24:05
Speaker 4: or the spouse feels that they're losing control and that's
24:09
Speaker 4: what makes the situation much more dangerous.
24:11
Speaker 1: And doctor Lisa, in this case, we have two incidents.
24:17
Speaker 3: Number one, the neighbor.
24:19
Speaker 1: If the neighbors to be believed, and I see no
24:21
Speaker 1: reason why the neighbors should not be believed. Contrary to
24:25
Speaker 1: what Ben Powers is saying, what power is brought up
24:29
Speaker 1: about a line of questioning across examining is absolutely correct.
24:34
Speaker 1: But that said, under our jurisprudence, individuals do not have
24:40
Speaker 1: a duty under the law to be a good samaritan
24:44
Speaker 1: or report wrongdoing. You hear a gunshot, you hear a screen,
24:47
Speaker 1: You're not under a legal or criminal duty to call
24:50
Speaker 1: nine to one one.
24:52
Speaker 3: If you don't, then your crud.
24:55
Speaker 1: If you do, then you're a good samaritan, but you
24:57
Speaker 1: will not be prosecuted if you don't. However, he's got
25:01
Speaker 1: a good point and a great line of cross examination.
25:04
Speaker 1: My point here is, doctor Lisa Long, is that there
25:07
Speaker 1: were two things happening. Number one, she was trying to
25:11
Speaker 1: leave an argument, according to the neighbor. And number two,
25:16
Speaker 1: when a woman puts a plan in place to actually leave,
25:21
Speaker 1: to really do it, not just say I'm so tired
25:23
Speaker 1: of you, I want out, but to really do it.
25:26
Speaker 1: Here you see the mother, Barbara Clark state, we've talked
25:31
Speaker 1: about this, and we've talked about this. I came up
25:34
Speaker 1: with a plan for her. She would move in with me,
25:39
Speaker 1: and we had planned to have her little toddler, her daughter,
25:43
Speaker 1: go to the elementary school in my neighborhood. That is
25:48
Speaker 1: a plan. That is a hard plan, doctor Lisa, right.
25:53
Speaker 4: And so what you know, we could we could speculate
25:55
Speaker 4: that Brad may have perceived himself as losing even more,
26:00
Speaker 4: that Suzanne had made a choice that her she was
26:05
Speaker 4: moving forward with.
26:08
Speaker 3: With moving in with her mom.
26:09
Speaker 4: It's my understanding that she also had the conversation with
26:12
Speaker 4: her mom shortly before she went missing, so this may
26:16
Speaker 4: have been the first time that her mother was aware
26:19
Speaker 4: of the domestic violence.
26:21
Speaker 1: Plus, as Marisa Mendoza told us earlier from News for
26:25
Speaker 1: San Antonio, the couple had been sued by American Express.
26:30
Speaker 3: And they settled that.
26:32
Speaker 1: Now they had a lean on them by some contractors.
26:37
Speaker 1: So they're having one financial problem after the next, and
26:40
Speaker 1: now they're having an argument in the driveway and she
26:42
Speaker 1: wants to leave. He grabs her by the arm to
26:44
Speaker 1: pull her back, and they move out of the neighbor's sideline.
26:49
Speaker 3: What happens next?
26:50
Speaker 15: Listen The Simpsons neighbor steps outside to see where the
26:54
Speaker 15: couple went. There's no sign of Bread or Suzanne. Then
26:58
Speaker 15: the neighbor freezes when they hear a scream from across
27:01
Speaker 15: the street in Almost Basin Park, the neighbor hears two
27:04
Speaker 15: more screams than silence.
27:07
Speaker 9: The quiet, upscale neighborhood of Almost Park, Texas rocked by
27:12
Speaker 9: chilling screams. What happened to mom of four Suzanne Simpson.
27:20
Speaker 15: After giving an initial statement Monday, almost Park PD schedule
27:24
Speaker 15: a second interview with Brad Simpson on Tuesday. Alarm bells
27:28
Speaker 15: ring when Simpson doesn't show up. Family members say they
27:31
Speaker 15: haven't heard much from Simpson since he left the home
27:34
Speaker 15: he shares with Suzanne for his ranch in Bendera, about
27:38
Speaker 15: an hour's drive away.
27:39
Speaker 1: So he owns a ranch in Mandera an hour's drive away,
27:42
Speaker 1: and I want to point something out what he heard
27:45
Speaker 1: just before we went to break Maurice Mendozo joining US
27:48
Speaker 1: News for San Antonio. So the neighbor goes back inside
27:52
Speaker 1: after hearing the scream and silence, But then about an
27:55
Speaker 1: hour later, what happens.
27:58
Speaker 5: About an hour later, he the neighbor went back into
28:00
Speaker 5: his apartment, and I guess Brad went on his merry
28:05
Speaker 5: way to do whatever he needed to do. The interesting
28:08
Speaker 5: thing that I wanted to add is we spoke to
28:10
Speaker 5: that neighbor again last week off camera. He didn't want
28:13
Speaker 5: to go on camera, but basically we asked him, why
28:17
Speaker 5: did you not report what you heard and what you
28:20
Speaker 5: saw Sunday night? And he said point blank that we
28:25
Speaker 5: don't do that in this neighborhood. We don't say those
28:29
Speaker 5: things to the police. And I said, well, when you
28:32
Speaker 5: don't report those things, things like this happen, people end
28:36
Speaker 5: up missing. I don't know if he regrets it. He
28:39
Speaker 5: didn't say that, but that's what he said. We don't
28:43
Speaker 5: do those things here.
28:44
Speaker 1: Moason, isn't Mendoza, isn't it true that when the neighbor
28:47
Speaker 1: goes back inside an hour later he hears he must
28:51
Speaker 1: have a very change sense of hearing. He hears the
28:53
Speaker 1: neighbor's garage door open. He says, Simpson back out and
29:00
Speaker 1: black truck alone, and he returns.
29:06
Speaker 3: Two hours later. This truck. Isn't that true, Marisa?
29:10
Speaker 5: Yes, that's what he told police, and police had released
29:14
Speaker 5: that picture a few days later, asking for the public
29:19
Speaker 5: for help, asking them if you've seen this truck someplace,
29:22
Speaker 5: please let us know. Reporters, We've asked police, have you
29:27
Speaker 5: found anything in the truck anything related to Suzanne? They
29:32
Speaker 5: have not commented if any DNA or anything of hers
29:35
Speaker 5: was found in the truck.
29:36
Speaker 3: Okay, this is what we know.
29:38
Speaker 1: Just got Morgan, professor forensic Jacksonville State University. Police have
29:42
Speaker 1: Brad Simpsons Black twenty nineteen GMC Sierra at four A
29:49
Speaker 1: Sira at.
29:51
Speaker 3: Four black in color? Can we show that please?
29:53
Speaker 1: The tag number is M mother D Dakota W windsor
29:58
Speaker 1: seven zero five zero repeat M Mother D Dog W
30:04
Speaker 1: windsor seven zero five zero.
30:07
Speaker 3: And right now.
30:08
Speaker 1: Police are asking if you have seen this vehicle, please
30:13
Speaker 1: let us know. And Joe Scott, it wouldn't be the
30:17
Speaker 1: first time a vehicle has cracked a case. Do you
30:21
Speaker 1: recall the case of Cherish Perrywinkle that was kidnapped from
30:28
Speaker 1: a superstore? Listen, Joe Scott.
30:30
Speaker 16: Jackson one, No one's fine. Hi were calling about a
30:33
Speaker 16: suspicious vent over how a white van. It's not there anymore.
30:38
Speaker 16: But we don't know if he don't do me thin
30:40
Speaker 16: because we heard to grow just got to do different Walmart, right,
30:42
Speaker 16: So we're not sure besty van. But a white van
30:46
Speaker 16: was pushed all the way to the back of the bushes,
30:49
Speaker 16: right behind the church.
30:50
Speaker 9: Behind es now and how long ago do you see it?
30:54
Speaker 16: Seven twenty? We didn't know anything until it is now.
30:57
Speaker 16: Do you think he may have dumped something? Right? We
31:00
Speaker 16: don't know if they looked suspicious. It was away to
31:03
Speaker 16: the bay.
31:03
Speaker 3: Okay, So there was that case.
31:05
Speaker 1: And of course when the PERPS vehicle was found, the
31:10
Speaker 1: child was found nearby, half submerged in water, and did
31:15
Speaker 1: And then of course does Scott who can forget the truck,
31:19
Speaker 1: the Ford Transit and the Gabby Potito murder.
31:23
Speaker 4: Remember, listen, we came across a white van that had
31:27
Speaker 4: Florida plates, a small white van.
31:29
Speaker 15: This is most definitely Gabby Potito's board transit van.
31:34
Speaker 3: So does Scott?
31:35
Speaker 1: What what are they doing with Simpson's black truck right
31:41
Speaker 1: now going over.
31:42
Speaker 7: From Stem to Stern. If they have their hands on it,
31:44
Speaker 7: they're going to look and listen, the fact that her
31:47
Speaker 7: DNA would be found in the vehicle is no grand surprise.
31:51
Speaker 7: They're married, so she would have occupied that space. The
31:53
Speaker 7: key here, though, is the source of the DNA. And
31:57
Speaker 7: what I mean by that particular is their blood on
32:03
Speaker 7: any of those surfaces in there that can be tied
32:05
Speaker 7: back to this mama. And we think about you know,
32:10
Speaker 7: you couple that with this idea that they have gone
32:13
Speaker 7: on this search and a landfill, Well, how are you
32:17
Speaker 7: going to transport a grown woman's body anywhere? And would
32:22
Speaker 7: there have been harm done to her?
32:23
Speaker 3: Look?
32:24
Speaker 7: I don't have to go very far to remind you that, right,
32:27
Speaker 7: now we're in the middle of the Quentin Simon case,
32:29
Speaker 7: and you know there was you know, a landfill involved
32:33
Speaker 7: in that particular case. But you're talking about a precious
32:35
Speaker 7: little boy here and easily moved about. With this, We're
32:41
Speaker 7: talking about a full grown woman. So how do you
32:43
Speaker 7: accomplish this task? There is something that the police know
32:48
Speaker 7: that has driven them to the point where they're going
32:50
Speaker 7: to assemble a team of cadets. And this is not
32:54
Speaker 7: a lot undertaking, Nancy. This is a lot of heavy
32:58
Speaker 7: lifting in order to facilitate this. You just don't do
33:02
Speaker 7: this on a whim. So they have some kind of
33:04
Speaker 7: biological evidence I would think that might tie this case
33:09
Speaker 7: to maybe a disposal in a local dumpster or perhaps
33:13
Speaker 7: in some bind somewhere that they can track, because tracking
33:18
Speaker 7: is the key to anything involving a landfill.
33:28
Speaker 3: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
33:34
Speaker 10: After Almost Park PD speaks with the Simpsons neighbor, they
33:37
Speaker 10: focus their searches on a wooded area in Almost Basin Park,
33:41
Speaker 10: just across the street from the Simpsons home. Texas Rangers
33:44
Speaker 10: and Texas Search and Rescue join Almost Park officers, bringing
33:47
Speaker 10: several dog teams to comb the area. Meanwhile, a search
33:50
Speaker 10: warrant is also executed at the Simpsons home. Police say
33:54
Speaker 10: they have recovered several evidence items that have yet to
33:57
Speaker 10: be analyzed, and are also trying to obtain digital evidence
34:00
Speaker 10: from both Brad and Suzanne Simpson's devices.
34:04
Speaker 1: Earlier, we heard Joe Scott Morgan opining on what has
34:07
Speaker 1: led law enforcement to this dump. He thinks there's some
34:11
Speaker 1: sort of DNA type evidence. I disagree. I think it's
34:15
Speaker 1: very possible. Maria Mendoza Marisa Mendoza joining us. I assume
34:21
Speaker 1: that police got search warrants and access the husband's cell
34:25
Speaker 1: phone and laptops, all of his devices, and I'm wondering
34:31
Speaker 1: if there he may have searched for the location of landfill.
34:36
Speaker 1: If there is a possibility, they've already triangulated it and
34:40
Speaker 1: gotten a ping near the landfill. What can you tell
34:44
Speaker 1: us about the landfill search is going on right now?
34:46
Speaker 5: What I can tell you is that they've been at
34:48
Speaker 5: the landfill for the past few days. It was yesterday
34:53
Speaker 5: when the chief went with a letter to almost Park
34:57
Speaker 5: residents and said he felt confident that Suzanne's body was
35:02
Speaker 5: going to be found in that area. When they initially
35:06
Speaker 5: went to the landfill on Monday, it was a search.
35:10
Speaker 5: We weren't really sure that it was one of four
35:12
Speaker 5: searches in a search warrant four properties. I guess that
35:17
Speaker 5: the search warrant called for, But the focus has really
35:20
Speaker 5: been now on this southeast Beer County landfill in certain
35:24
Speaker 5: parts of it. So it's really horrific to see what
35:31
Speaker 5: people are going through all this trash and that she
35:33
Speaker 5: could possibly be there.
35:35
Speaker 1: Ravi As Gibbons joining us Director Operations USPA Nationwide Security, Brian,
35:41
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've ever been part of or
35:45
Speaker 1: tangential to a landfill search, but they are agonizing, they're tedious.
35:52
Speaker 1: You have to look through every bit of trash, sometimes
35:55
Speaker 1: three four feet tall, and you could be looking for
35:58
Speaker 1: something as tiny as a digit.
36:00
Speaker 3: Are part of a.
36:01
Speaker 6: Digit, absolutely, Nancy, and these searches are done in a
36:05
Speaker 6: very systematic way. And just like Joe Scott Morgan said,
36:09
Speaker 6: these landfills are typically done on a grid system, so
36:12
Speaker 6: they're going to have pretty accurate data as to where
36:17
Speaker 6: to search, and then they begin going layer by layer,
36:20
Speaker 6: setting up a secondary grid where the searchers will comb
36:24
Speaker 6: through one layer of that debris to look for the remains.
36:29
Speaker 3: Just got Morgan way in on landfill searches.
36:33
Speaker 7: Yeah, and so it is a grid search, and you
36:35
Speaker 7: can't just so folks understand kind of the layer of
36:38
Speaker 7: the land with a landfill, they are broken into grids,
36:42
Speaker 7: and you can't continue to dump in the same spot
36:45
Speaker 7: every time, so they rotate these around. The trick is
36:49
Speaker 7: And what they do understand is every time you see
36:52
Speaker 7: a truck go down your street that collects a garbage bin,
36:56
Speaker 7: there is an assigned location that that truck will go
36:59
Speaker 7: to at said land and they will begin filling that
37:02
Speaker 7: particular grid and then they will begin to run over
37:05
Speaker 7: it with the heavy equipment. That's a great shot. Our
37:07
Speaker 7: production team does a great job with this, Nancy. Those
37:11
Speaker 7: big steel tires that you see with the knobs, they're
37:14
Speaker 7: compressing all this. We call this stratification of this debris.
37:18
Speaker 7: So you'll have remains that are co mingled with all
37:22
Speaker 7: of the household garbage and everything else. And this thing
37:25
Speaker 7: is being compressed over and over and over again until
37:30
Speaker 7: they're done with that grid. When you're doing a landfill search,
37:33
Speaker 7: you block that grid off of the area that you
37:36
Speaker 7: suspect that that truck may have dumped something in that location.
37:39
Speaker 7: That's why I think they have information about this, and
37:42
Speaker 7: you're going to go over this very painstakingly, and it
37:45
Speaker 7: is not an easy undertaking. You can see these guys
37:48
Speaker 7: out there in taivex suits. It's hot, it's miserable, and
37:51
Speaker 7: you're trying to look for the finest detail that you
37:54
Speaker 7: possibly can. Because once a human remain gets into this location,
37:58
Speaker 7: whether something has happened to them like this memberment beforehand,
38:02
Speaker 7: even if the body is intact, the body is going
38:04
Speaker 7: to be greatly, greatly affected and it just it all
38:08
Speaker 7: looks the same when you're out there. You really have
38:10
Speaker 7: to adjust your focus when you're there.
38:12
Speaker 1: I wonder, Joe Scott, how effective cadaver dogs would be.
38:18
Speaker 3: In this scenario.
38:21
Speaker 1: There's scent dogs which pick up on a live human,
38:25
Speaker 1: then there's cadaver dog that picks.
38:27
Speaker 3: Up on you know, disposed Yeah, well how would that work?
38:34
Speaker 7: Yeah, their spectrum is is greater than ours to be
38:38
Speaker 7: able to sense things through scent. However, when you get
38:44
Speaker 7: into a landfill, you've got all of this organic material,
38:48
Speaker 7: which means this biological material that's co mingled out there,
38:51
Speaker 7: and I think that they could still get a hit Nancy,
38:54
Speaker 7: but is going to add another layer of complication to
38:58
Speaker 7: this even utilizing a cadap dog out there. A lot
39:01
Speaker 7: of this is going to be accomplished through eyesight and
39:04
Speaker 7: good old fashioned elbow grease. They're going to be taking
39:07
Speaker 7: that debris that you're seeing right there, They're going to
39:09
Speaker 7: take it to a separate location, and they're going to
39:12
Speaker 7: sift through every bit of it. So you've got multiple
39:14
Speaker 7: jobs that are being done out here. We're just seeing
39:17
Speaker 7: right now them doing an assessment, a raking, and then
39:21
Speaker 7: you don't really see them gathering the specific material and
39:24
Speaker 7: taking it to a location and then's sifting through it
39:26
Speaker 7: because all of it can again begin to merge, and
39:29
Speaker 7: it's very confusing for anybody that's trying to identify anything
39:33
Speaker 7: by sight.
39:34
Speaker 1: And another thing, Brian Fitzgibbons, you see them wearing hazmat outfits.
39:37
Speaker 1: Can you imagine out in that heat, digging through all
39:43
Speaker 1: of that filth. It could absolutely make you pass out,
39:47
Speaker 1: oh for sure.
39:48
Speaker 6: And you know, this reminds me of my days in
39:51
Speaker 6: the Marine Corps, Nancy. This is like what we would
39:53
Speaker 6: call mop gear wearing chemical suits. These cadets from sant Anto,
40:01
Speaker 6: they're working really hard out.
40:02
Speaker 3: There and sweating.
40:05
Speaker 1: Having to breathe through has Matt and imagine just a moment,
40:10
Speaker 1: if you can, that somewhere, somewhere in all of that
40:15
Speaker 1: could be Suzanne's body, and somewhere right now her children
40:23
Speaker 1: are wondering, where's mom. If you know or think you
40:29
Speaker 1: know anything about the disappearance of Suzanne, or if you
40:35
Speaker 1: believe you saw the husband's black vehicle, please call it
40:40
Speaker 1: Detective Hector Ruis two one zero two zero nine to
40:45
Speaker 1: seven zero one repeat two one zero two zero nine two.
40:51
Speaker 3: Seven zero one.
40:54
Speaker 1: Thank you to all of our guests being with us
40:56
Speaker 1: as we hope and pray for the best and the
40:59
Speaker 1: search for Suzanne. Nancy Grace signing off, goodbye friend,