WEBVTT 1 00:00:32.920 --> 00:00:37.359 Welcome back to the Pathwayed Chili for the concluding chapter of our three part series 2 00:00:37.399 --> 00:00:41.240 of episodes about the disappearance of Melanie Flynn. Robin, do you want to 3 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:45.679 catch everyone up on what we've discussed during our last two episodes. Well, 4 00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:49.799 Melanie Flynn was twenty four years old and went missing in Lexington, Kentucky, 5 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:54.079 in February of nineteen seventy seven. She hailed from a very prominent family as 6 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:59.079 her father was a former state senator, and after a seemingly ordinary day she 7 00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:02.880 was working her job as a secretary and told her family she was going to 8 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:04.959 be home in time for dinner. But she never showed up, and she 9 00:01:06.040 --> 00:01:08.120 never called to say that she was going to be late, and they would 10 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:11.879 eventually find her abandoned car at an apartment complex where she used to live, 11 00:01:12.120 --> 00:01:15.959 as well as her purse in the Kentucky River. Of course, the original 12 00:01:15.959 --> 00:01:21.040 investigation, they checked into some sightings of her, saying that she was living 13 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:25.239 in Florida at a hotel. That lead detective from the Lexington med said that 14 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:29.079 he checked it out, became convinced that the girl these witnesses saw was Melanie 15 00:01:29.400 --> 00:01:34.439 and closed the investigation, even though did not actually meet this girl and positively 16 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:38.079 identify her as being Melanie, so of course her family was not happy with 17 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:41.840 that ruling. Then a bunch of other stuff would come out that an officer 18 00:01:41.879 --> 00:01:47.519 for the Lexington PD in the Narcotic Squad named Bill Canan claimed that Melanie had 19 00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:51.560 acted as an informant for him years earlier and pushed forward the idea that she 20 00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:53.959 might have skipped down because she was in fear for her life about being labeled 21 00:01:53.959 --> 00:01:57.519 as a snitch. But of course her family did not understand this as well. 22 00:01:57.560 --> 00:02:00.760 They believed that she was in a relationship with Knan, but he denied, 23 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:05.040 disclaiming that he was already married at the time, so there was nothing 24 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:08.240 between him and Melanie. And there was another cop with the Narcotic Squad named 25 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:13.199 Drew Thornton who was a rumored to be involved with Melanie as well, and 26 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:17.639 rumors also started circulating that both these officers were responsible for Melanie's disappearance. And 27 00:02:17.719 --> 00:02:23.439 then several years later Thornton, after he resigned from the Lexington BAD started a 28 00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:27.800 drug smuggling operation called The Company and wound up being killed while he was trying 29 00:02:27.800 --> 00:02:30.159 to smuggle drugs from Colombia. Into the US, and while he was being 30 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:35.400 chased by the authorities, he decided to dump his cocaine shipment from his plane 31 00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:38.840 and parachute out, but because his shoot didn't open, he wound up being 32 00:02:38.919 --> 00:02:42.719 killed after a free fall. And many years later Bill Canan he would also 33 00:02:42.759 --> 00:02:46.080 go to prison for his role in drug trafficking and received an eighteen year since 34 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:50.599 and was released after US spending I think fifteen years behind bars, and he 35 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:53.680 passed away in twenty twenty. And in recent years, the authorities have been 36 00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:58.960 acting on a tip that Melanie's remains were found in a septic tank located just 37 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:02.639 outside of a Lexington but they were unable to find her remains or any evidence 38 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:06.840 to support this story. So after all these years, she's still a missing 39 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:10.199 person. So now we're going to discuss what we considered to be one of 40 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:15.919 the most troubling aspects of this story, and that's the half assed investigation performed 41 00:03:15.960 --> 00:03:20.560 by Lexington Police detective John Bizak, who claimed that Melanie had been seen at 42 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:24.479 the Texas Hotel and Daytona Beach in the months following your disappearance. According to 43 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:30.639 Bizac, he spoke with no less than nine Alley witnesses who positively identified Melanie 44 00:03:30.680 --> 00:03:35.840 from her photograph and the various timelines they provided suggested that Melanie had been staying 45 00:03:35.879 --> 00:03:40.680 at the same hotel for three months. These witnesses also apparently provided specific details 46 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:46.039 about Melanie to suggest that they really interacted with her and did not mistake her 47 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:50.199 for another woman. So Bizac came to the conclusion that Melanie took off all 48 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:53.439 entarily and was still alive, which is why he decided to close the investigation. 49 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:58.400 But the big issue is that he did not actually confirm with one and 50 00:03:58.520 --> 00:04:02.639 percent certainty that she was alive. Yes, there are other documented cases where 51 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:06.759 missing people do disappear of their own accord, and after they're found, they 52 00:04:06.759 --> 00:04:11.919 will sometimes tell law enforcement that they have no desire to reconnect with their family. 53 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:15.400 If they are a legal adult, they do have the right to make 54 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:18.680 this decision, so if this ever happens, law enforcement will often respect the 55 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:23.600 missing person's privacy. Well, they won't disclose the location they were found. 56 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:27.560 They will at least confirm to the public that the person is still alive and 57 00:04:27.639 --> 00:04:30.920 the case is now closed. However, before they do this, they're supposed 58 00:04:30.920 --> 00:04:35.800 to make actual contact with the missing individual and verify their identity. But this 59 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:41.040 is not what detective Bizac did, as he just seemed to take people's word 60 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:45.399 that Melanie was still alive, but did not actually tracker down himself to confirm 61 00:04:45.480 --> 00:04:48.879 this. I mean, I know that missing person's investigations were handled much differently 62 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:53.680 during the nineteen seventies, and they've come a long way since then, but 63 00:04:53.800 --> 00:05:00.120 this sounds ridiculously irresponsible. It is ridiculously irresponsible. I mean, when you 64 00:05:00.199 --> 00:05:03.839 were describing the way that detectives will handle a missing person's case when they identify 65 00:05:04.040 --> 00:05:09.000 and reach an adult who says, I don't want to go home to my 66 00:05:09.079 --> 00:05:15.839 family, Melanie didn't do that. People told this detective supposedly that they had 67 00:05:15.879 --> 00:05:18.120 seen her right, that they had made contact with her, and that they 68 00:05:18.199 --> 00:05:24.040 knew information like she lived in Kentucky. But I really struggled with the idea 69 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:27.720 that there could have been confirmation bias, which we talked about in another episode 70 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:31.800 where Detective Bizac gave too much information. He showed a picture, he said 71 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:35.839 things like, you know she's from Kentucky, her parents are very concerned she 72 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:42.360 was last seen here, and they're able to then regurgitate similar information and link 73 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:47.120 someone's face that they loosely know to this girl in the picture. So there's 74 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:50.439 a lot of things that I think Detective Bizzack did in a very just kind 75 00:05:50.439 --> 00:05:56.279 of sloppy way or lazy way, and then said I have enough information to 76 00:05:56.279 --> 00:06:00.160 say case closed. He didn't. He never put hands on Melanie, ever 77 00:06:00.199 --> 00:06:04.839 put eyes on Melanie, And therefore I don't trust that investigation whatsoever. I 78 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:09.399 can only manage the backlash if something like this happened today, because I know 79 00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:13.480 that because of the Internet and social media, people follow missing persons cases so 80 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:15.959 closely. So if the law enforcement officer said, we found this person, 81 00:06:16.040 --> 00:06:19.079 we think she's alive, but I didn't actually see her the confirm it was 82 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:23.319 her, you can only imagine the huge fear of that would happen over the 83 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:28.120 internet. We're in like a whole new era of law enforcement where there's this 84 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:31.680 like level of accountability that just wasn't there before. Because of the Internet, 85 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:35.480 we're aware of people who are working these cases. And when people make major 86 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:40.120 missteps or they don't investigate leads, or they try to take credit where credit 87 00:06:40.199 --> 00:06:44.000 isn't due, they get called out. And I mean there's also body cans 88 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:46.560 and things like that. But I also think back in the day, there 89 00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:50.839 was very little that the public could do to kind of breach that wall to 90 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:56.600 get that information. The only information we knew was what they released, Whereas 91 00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:00.199 now it's like we've got instant access to what the family is saying, to 92 00:07:00.199 --> 00:07:02.879 what friends are saying, and it's all out there. So if something like 93 00:07:02.920 --> 00:07:08.920 that happened today, he absolutely would get raked over the coals. So at 94 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:12.920 best, Bizek was not performing his due diligence, but at worst, he 95 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:16.160 could have made the decision to close the investigation due to internal pressure from the 96 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:20.920 Lexington PD. Unlike many of the other law enforcement figures in this story, 97 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:26.800 it doesn't sound like Bizik was ever implicated in any serious scandals, but he 98 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:30.399 had a pretty successful career, publishing a number of police manuals and serving as 99 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:35.720 commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training following his retirement from the force. 100 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:41.759 But after he was promoted a captain, Bizik would face heavy criticism from 101 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:46.800 Melanie's mother, Ella Ritchie Flynn, after she supposedly provided him with some records 102 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:50.839 to assist the department with the investigation, and they were mysteriously stolen under his 103 00:07:50.920 --> 00:07:57.319 watch. So whatever successes Bizak might have achieved in his police career, working 104 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:01.480 on Melanie's case was not one of them exactly. I mean, Ella erg 105 00:08:01.639 --> 00:08:07.439 Flynn, she's an amazing human being in this case, Melanie's mama not only 106 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:11.839 it was an advocate for her daughter, but she also went as almost her 107 00:08:11.879 --> 00:08:16.120 own detective and gathered information. She delivered it to the law enforcement agency that's 108 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:18.959 supposed to be working in her daughter's case. And not only do they not 109 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:22.040 pay attention, it's stolen, like they lose the information that she and her 110 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:28.519 family deem important in the case. And then remember Ella's also the one that's 111 00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:31.360 listening to the radio, and here's that the chief of police is saying, 112 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:35.679 Hey, we really pay attention to this case, we're really working at and 113 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:39.720 they're really using it as a publicity stunt to say, hey, we're this 114 00:08:39.799 --> 00:08:43.200 great law enforcement agency, we're pro cold cases. And Ella Colson and says 115 00:08:43.559 --> 00:08:48.960 basically, you're a liar, which is awesome. She's so brave to do 116 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:52.559 that. I think it's super sketchy and like sus that he gets given this 117 00:08:52.679 --> 00:08:58.080 information and it mysteriously goes missing, and it's like these are the sins of 118 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:01.919 his past. I'm thinking, even if he himself isn't complicit in any drug 119 00:09:01.960 --> 00:09:07.960 trafficking or any misdeeds, the fact that he's linked to the whole mess in 120 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:13.440 the disappearance of Melanie and all of the individuals like Canan and Thornton, and 121 00:09:13.639 --> 00:09:18.960 who knows, we only know those who were convicted of crimes. He may 122 00:09:18.039 --> 00:09:22.639 have done things in his past that he doesn't want dredged up, And if 123 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:24.759 her case is getting closer to being solved, people might come out of the 124 00:09:24.759 --> 00:09:28.960 woodwork to implicate him. We just don't know all of the circumstances surrounding it. 125 00:09:30.120 --> 00:09:33.720 But I do find it highly suspicious that he doesn't seem to be working 126 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:39.080 that hard, and he goes so far as to let that information slip through 127 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:41.919 his fingers. And it's like another person who seemed to fall upwards, like 128 00:09:41.960 --> 00:09:46.600 we talked about every day, Like you got fired from the police force for 129 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:48.879 forging a share of signature, and he wound up working for the governor's office. 130 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:52.360 And here Bizzac goes from being a detective to become a captain. Like 131 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:56.159 my god, I know, I would I say he failed on that case. 132 00:09:56.200 --> 00:10:01.879 It just feels like white male mediocrity falling upwards again. So now I 133 00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:05.759 think would be an appropriate time to talk about another colorful character in this story 134 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:09.879 who has a connection to Florida. We mentioned in our first episode that Melanie 135 00:10:09.960 --> 00:10:13.759 had a short lived marriage during the nineteen seventies which ended in divorce, but 136 00:10:13.879 --> 00:10:18.159 she followed it up by meeting a wealthy Cuban born horse breeder named Mario Crespo, 137 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:22.799 who ran a prominent horse farm in Lexington and was involved in producing bemis. 138 00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:28.919 Crespo also reportedly ran an escort service in which he would videotape his women 139 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:33.360 in compromising positions with state government officials for the purposes of extortion and blackmail. 140 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:37.799 Melanie often traveled with Cressboe and worked a few jobs for him, such as 141 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:41.440 appearing at some of his horse events, but it was never officially confirmed if 142 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:46.600 they were romantically involved, and Melanie always maintained that the relationship was purely professional. 143 00:10:48.279 --> 00:10:52.039 Cressbo did have connections with the Lexington PD as Drew Thornton and other off 144 00:10:52.120 --> 00:10:58.200 duty police officers would sometimes moonlight by providing security for his horse farm. Again, 145 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:01.840 I wonder his us part of that circle that I was talking about in 146 00:11:01.879 --> 00:11:07.720 our last episode where men will literally form this kind of wolfpack predatory behavior where 147 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:15.320 they talk about their relationships with a female. Right they're bragging about this pursuit 148 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:18.799 or that they have this goal to conquer some woman, and then they continue 149 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:22.759 to talk and it becomes this excitement where each man is going to go out 150 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:26.279 and pursue this same girl or try to manipulate this girl to be with them 151 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:31.440 or to check her off their list. Well, now Cressbo's added to these 152 00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:35.080 two detectives who are already in cahoots with each other. Do you guys think 153 00:11:35.080 --> 00:11:37.440 he could have been involved with something like that too, where Melanie's like just 154 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:43.840 the target of their kind of braggadocious behavior. Yes, and I think he's 155 00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:48.120 okay. He's a wealthy Cuban born horse breeder. We know that, like 156 00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:52.799 so often, drug cartels will tie up their money in horses. So I 157 00:11:52.840 --> 00:11:56.559 think the fact that he's associated with all of these people, it seems likely 158 00:11:56.679 --> 00:12:01.639 that all of these men are trying to conquer Melanie in this creepy kind of 159 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:05.559 way. And also the fact that I'm sure he used the fact that other 160 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:09.919 people other men bragged about their conquest with women to his advantage because like he 161 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:13.679 said he would videotape women in compromising positions with these high level officials. So 162 00:12:13.720 --> 00:12:16.840 I think he would probably befriend these people, set them up with women, 163 00:12:16.919 --> 00:12:20.320 and then videotape them for the purposes of a blackmail. So he was even 164 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:24.399 a higher level than the men in the Lexington PD by how he used women. 165 00:12:24.919 --> 00:12:30.519 It also opens up the possibility that doing these jobs or being involved somehow 166 00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:33.840 with Cresbo, the Melanie might have known too much information about certain high level 167 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:37.679 individuals. Oh yeah, exactly. So that's why he's looked at as a 168 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:45.200 potentially being involved or having knowledge of Melanie's disappearance. Around the time Melanie went 169 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:48.960 missing, Cresbo and six other women traveled down to Florida to film some commercials, 170 00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:52.519 and while Melanie was apparently supposed to join them at some point, she 171 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:58.480 never showed up. We're not saying that Cresbo had any involvement in Melanie's disappearance, 172 00:12:58.840 --> 00:13:01.159 but it is interesting that she was apparently planning to take a trip to 173 00:13:01.159 --> 00:13:05.039 Florida at some point. So if you believe the eyewitness sightings of her at 174 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:09.480 the Texas hotel are accurate, then perhaps she went there because she was scheduled 175 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:13.639 to do some work with Cresbo. I mean, if the rumors are true 176 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:18.600 the Cresbo used his escorts to blackmail the powerful figures, and Melanie became involved 177 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:22.279 in that, there's a potential motive for why she was made to disappear. 178 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:26.320 But again, it really doesn't make much sense for Melanie to abandon her car 179 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:30.279 in a rough neighborhood and toss her person to a river if she was planning 180 00:13:30.279 --> 00:13:33.360 to leave the state. It seems like this whole lead with Florida started because 181 00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:37.919 Melanie's mother received a tip from a woman who claimed her nephew had seen Melanie 182 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:43.879 in Daytona Beach. So if the Lexington PD had a vested interest in giving 183 00:13:43.879 --> 00:13:46.840 off the false impression that she was still alive somewhere, then they could have 184 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:52.919 twisted the facts about these eyewitness sightings in order to fit their narrative. Oh 185 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:54.960 for sure they could have. I also wonder if the escorts could have been 186 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:58.200 involved in this where they befriended Melanie and they made it seem like they were 187 00:13:58.200 --> 00:14:01.519 just girlfriends, that we're going to hang out with her, and then they 188 00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:05.759 actually helped apprehend her as well. That's possible because we see that all the 189 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:09.440 time with sex trafficking, right, is like somebody will be sex traffic and 190 00:14:09.480 --> 00:14:13.240 then they then kind of like recruit them to take on a more managerial position. 191 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:18.240 We're there then recruiting other growth or like they then become the abusers. 192 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:24.840 But before we start talking about potential foul play scenarios, I do have to 193 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:28.759 acknowledge that it's not completely impossible that Melanie's disappearance could have been the result of 194 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:33.519 some sort of mental breakdown. After all, she did experience a very serious 195 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:37.240 head injury after a horse riding accident years earlier, and well, this did 196 00:14:37.240 --> 00:14:41.080 not prevent Melanie from living a fully functional life. It does sound like the 197 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:46.120 injury changed her personality at the outset her own family. Even lead towards the 198 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:50.559 possibility that Melanie had lost her memory, as she did once go through about 199 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:56.960 a partial amnesia, reportedly because her ex husband struck her and exacerbated her head 200 00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:01.840 injury. If something happened to Melanie shortly she left her workplace, which somehow 201 00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:05.200 triggered this again, then yes, I suppose she could have developed amnesia and 202 00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:11.120 wandered up. This could provide a potential explanation for why her car was parked 203 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:15.600 at her former apartment complex, as she could have forgotten her identity but still 204 00:15:15.639 --> 00:15:20.240 had vague memories of having lived there years earlier. Maybe the reason her purse 205 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:24.240 was found in the Kentucky River was because she leaped in there herself and they 206 00:15:24.360 --> 00:15:28.440 just never found her body. Oh, I don't buy it. I think 207 00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:31.759 that again, the amnesia thing was something where her parents went. What if 208 00:15:31.799 --> 00:15:35.399 that's it. Maybe that's what happened to her because she was really nervous before 209 00:15:35.399 --> 00:15:37.799 all of this, And if she has amnesia, we can find her, 210 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:41.799 we can go discover where she's at. Yes, Melanie had had some head 211 00:15:41.799 --> 00:15:46.039 injuries. Yes, she had been abused by her spouse. She had been 212 00:15:46.039 --> 00:15:50.639 through a lot of trauma. So the nerves before her disappearance I think were 213 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:56.399 more trauma PTSD or perhaps active issues she was having with Let's say these two 214 00:15:56.440 --> 00:16:00.919 detectives. But I just don't think that they triggered amnesia case sticks at all. 215 00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:03.840 I mean, if there were no other leads in this case, I 216 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:07.720 might be willing to give it a shot. But there's so much other suspicious 217 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:11.639 and shady stoff involving the Lexington PD that it would be hell of a coincidence 218 00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:15.440 that they were not involved and Melanie's death was related to amnesia, and usually 219 00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:18.679 when bodies are put into a river like how big is this river? It 220 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:22.759 seems likely that they would have found her body if they found her purse. 221 00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:27.240 All that being said, I don't believe the amnesia scenario is very likely, 222 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:32.720 and given the amount of shady characters Melanie seemed to hang around with, I'm 223 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:36.559 inclined to believe she got herself mixed up in something which led to her becoming 224 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:40.080 a victim of foul play. By the sound of things. The first time 225 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:44.759 the Flynn family started becoming really suspicious of the Lexington p D was when Bill 226 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:48.879 Canan publicly stated that Melanie had once worked as an undercover informant for the Narcotic 227 00:16:48.919 --> 00:16:53.039 Squad. Up until this point, they just assumed she was romantically involved with 228 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:59.759 Cannon and were taken by surprise when he totally downplayed their relationship. Remember when 229 00:16:59.799 --> 00:17:03.799 Bbby Flynn officially reported Melanie missing, the first copy spoke to was Kanan, 230 00:17:04.279 --> 00:17:07.880 who was quick to apply that Melanie had a problem with drugs and alcohol and 231 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:11.680 seemed to want to quell Bobby's expectations that he would ever see her again. 232 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:17.039 It sounds like Kanan was trying to plant the seeds in her family's heads that 233 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:19.240 she took off on her own, and since they believed he had a close 234 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:25.240 relationship with Melanie, they were surprised by how unconcerned Kadan seemed to be when 235 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:27.440 she went missing. Well, remember, Jules, you kind of put it 236 00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:30.119 in my head too, because I said, well, maybe he's being forthcoming 237 00:17:30.200 --> 00:17:33.000 right off the bat, and then you're like, Ash, was he right? 238 00:17:33.160 --> 00:17:37.680 It's very sudden, a lot of details in his story to kind of 239 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:41.480 shape a narrative, and then we both went, aha, I guarantee you. 240 00:17:41.640 --> 00:17:45.240 Also, let's say Cannon wasn't just covering for his own criminal behavior, 241 00:17:45.559 --> 00:17:48.279 but he also had a wife, and it sounds like he might have crossed 242 00:17:48.279 --> 00:17:53.039 the line and had a highly inappropriate relationship with Melanie as well. Absolutely, 243 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:56.160 I think that had to be a major consideration for him, especially if he 244 00:17:56.200 --> 00:18:00.720 wanted to preserve his relationship, because her parents believed that she was in a 245 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:07.160 relationship with Kanan, and also her friends did as well, So personally, 246 00:18:07.319 --> 00:18:10.880 I think that he was in some kind of sexual relationship with her, and 247 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:14.720 possibly Thornton was at some point too, so that could have proved to be 248 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:18.400 a major problem, especially if her feelings were as deep as she'd said that 249 00:18:18.519 --> 00:18:22.039 she wanted to marry him, like, dude's already married, and if she 250 00:18:22.119 --> 00:18:26.200 said to him, hey, I'm going to tell your wife you're going to 251 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:30.200 be with me, something like that could provide a motivation for him to then 252 00:18:30.279 --> 00:18:33.839 act and to choose to end Melanie's life. Oh yeah, that would make 253 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:37.000 perfect sense. And you'll you'll remember his lame excuse when there are a lot 254 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:41.440 of people saying that, well, they introduced each other as boyfriend and girlfriend 255 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:44.440 at parties, and he said, oh, that was just us working undercover 256 00:18:44.599 --> 00:18:47.720 when she was an informant pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend. It's like, 257 00:18:47.799 --> 00:18:52.519 come on, like, dude, no, that just didn't happen. Like 258 00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:55.279 that is inaccurate, and you're trying to cover your butt with your wife. 259 00:18:55.480 --> 00:18:59.839 For sure. I find it very interesting that Kanan went public with the INFRA 260 00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:03.640 Nation about Melanie being a drug informant immediately after her purse was found near the 261 00:19:03.720 --> 00:19:10.559 Kentucky River. Before this, the lexanianped had essentially closed the investigation because they 262 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:14.519 were certain Melanie was alive in Florida. But now that evidence was found to 263 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:18.759 contradict this idea. Canan started pushing forward the idea that Melanie ran away because 264 00:19:18.759 --> 00:19:23.240 she was facing heat over being an informant. But that doesn't make much sense 265 00:19:23.319 --> 00:19:27.640 because, by Canan's own admission, Melanie had not done any undercover work for 266 00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:33.720 about two years. A few weeks after Canand made this announcement, Melanie's brother, 267 00:19:33.880 --> 00:19:37.240 Doug Flynn, did an interview in the newspapers in which he publicly expressed 268 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:42.119 his skepticism about Canan's claims. As far as Doug knew, Melanie did feed 269 00:19:42.200 --> 00:19:47.079 Canand tempts from time to time because she was an act of socialite who was 270 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:51.000 friends with a number of people. She wanted to help Canan out because she 271 00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:53.599 was dating him. But Doug did not believe that Melanie ever worked for the 272 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:59.400 police in an official capacity. Indeed, from what I read, they never 273 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:04.039 found a ual documentation such as court records or police expense reports to verify the 274 00:20:04.119 --> 00:20:08.359 claims that Melanie was an informant. For what I read about Canan, since 275 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:12.240 he was the first person to ever work as an undercover narcotics agent with the 276 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:17.640 Lexington BD, he was pretty much given free reign to do whatever he wanted 277 00:20:17.960 --> 00:20:22.920 under the guise of maintaining his cover, so this probably explains why he and 278 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:26.119 other narcotics agents like Drew Thornton were able to get away with selling off the 279 00:20:26.200 --> 00:20:32.240 drugs they seized at a profit. It seems plausible that if Canand became romantically 280 00:20:32.279 --> 00:20:36.759 involved with Melanie, used her social connections to meet prominent figures on the drug 281 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:41.000 scene, which would help him expand his own drug dealing operations. After all, 282 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:45.920 when Melanie went missing, she left behind a black book containing the names 283 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:48.680 of over two hundred friends, so she definitely knew a lot of people. 284 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:55.319 I also think not only did he use her social clout really, but I 285 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:59.920 also think he used his power and kind of his position as an authority figure 286 00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:03.799 in Melanie's life to manipulate her. And if he was making promises to her 287 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:08.359 about like helping her stay out of trouble and protecting her, and you know, 288 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:11.640 maybe he even said things like I'm going to leave my wife for you, 289 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:15.799 I love you, all this stuff. I could see Melanie doing anything 290 00:21:15.880 --> 00:21:18.559 to please him, right, She's already been in an abusive relationship. She 291 00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:22.559 doesn't seem to have very good luck with people. You know, I think 292 00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:27.680 that he definitely said, this is somebody who's got connections, she's got money, 293 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:32.359 she's got friends, and I have power and authority, and I'm going 294 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:37.480 to use it against her. So tragic because Melanie's just this young, twenty 295 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:41.359 four year old woman who's already dealt with an abusive relationship that resulted in this 296 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:47.880 exacerbation of this previous head injury from horseback riding, and so she's dealing with 297 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:51.440 a lot of things and her personalities change and she seems to be partying or 298 00:21:51.720 --> 00:21:59.200 so to take that and kind of exploit those weak points that he probably liked 299 00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:03.400 the canon saw, and that she wants to be loved like everybody does, 300 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:07.480 and that she seems to be working out some things through partying. She didn't 301 00:22:07.480 --> 00:22:11.680 have the opportunity to stop and to evolve and to maybe do less drugs or 302 00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:15.960 drink less and meet somebody that you know, she truly cared about. Cannon 303 00:22:17.400 --> 00:22:22.000 used that and like weaponized those insecurities that she had in order to get close 304 00:22:22.039 --> 00:22:26.839 to her and kind of exploit that. It's just so yucky and I just 305 00:22:26.039 --> 00:22:30.519 really can't stand him. Oh yeah, Like it sounds like she was kind 306 00:22:30.519 --> 00:22:33.480 of an unofficial drug informant. Where like he didn't use her an official capacity, 307 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:37.119 there was no paper trail. He just used her as part of a 308 00:22:37.160 --> 00:22:41.359 relationship or a sexual partner so that she would feed him intel to help his 309 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:44.920 own drug activity. And it's a lot like he's using in an informant to 310 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:48.279 make bus which he's supposed to do as a police officer. It's just maybe 311 00:22:48.279 --> 00:22:51.759 she'll introduce me to more people that I can sell drugs too. Like, 312 00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:55.839 if we're even to believe that she even operated in an unofficial capacity, I 313 00:22:55.880 --> 00:22:59.640 think it's just as likely that he met her at some party, he thought 314 00:22:59.640 --> 00:23:03.640 she was cute, and they started carrying on some type of relationship behind his 315 00:23:03.720 --> 00:23:07.920 wife's back while he was under cover, and then he quickly needed to come 316 00:23:07.960 --> 00:23:11.200 up with a cover because some of these people are going to be questioned about 317 00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:15.200 Melanie's disappearance, and whof his name is going to come up again and again, 318 00:23:15.559 --> 00:23:18.319 because her parents believed that he was dating her, and he was the 319 00:23:18.359 --> 00:23:22.720 first officer that they talked to, and he's like, well, you're probably 320 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:25.359 never going to see her daughter again. Big problem with drugs and alcohol. 321 00:23:25.960 --> 00:23:29.039 I just don't believe that we can trust anything that comes out of his mouth. 322 00:23:29.160 --> 00:23:32.480 Especially since there isn't paperwork to support that she was ever inn informant. 323 00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:37.359 So now we want to discuss one more colorful figure in this saga, a 324 00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:44.400 prominent wealthy Lexington socialite named Anita Madden aka the Bluegrass Baroness. Both Anita and 325 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:49.039 her husband Preston Madden lived at a two thousand acre horse farm called Hamburg Place, 326 00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:53.279 which was the home to a number of prize thoroughbreds, many of which 327 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:57.920 one races, such as the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes. The couple 328 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:03.240 was known for hosting lavish parties at Hamburg Place, and every year before the 329 00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:07.839 Kentucky Derby, it became a tradition for them to host the annual Madden Derby 330 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:11.440 Party, which was often attended by famous celebrities and some of the area's wealthy 331 00:24:11.480 --> 00:24:18.160 of citizens. Melanie was reportedly close friends with Anita and attended her parties, 332 00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:22.160 which may have paved the way for her introducing Bill Canan into their inner circle. 333 00:24:22.839 --> 00:24:26.960 It's been rumored the Madden's parties often got pretty wild, and they Drew 334 00:24:26.039 --> 00:24:30.440 Thornton and the company helped supply them and their wealthy guests with cocaine. During 335 00:24:30.440 --> 00:24:34.680 the late nineteen seventies and early eighties. But while a number of people maintain 336 00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:41.759 that Melanie and Anita were friends, Anita completely downplayed their relationship following Melanie's disappearance. 337 00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:45.960 She said she barely knew Melanie and did not cooperate very much with the 338 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:51.519 investigation. According to Sally Denton, when she first started reporting on this story, 339 00:24:51.799 --> 00:24:56.640 Anita picketed the television station were Denton worked and demanded that she be fired 340 00:24:56.680 --> 00:25:02.200 for spreading false information. Anyway, Anita passed away in twenty eighteen, and 341 00:25:02.279 --> 00:25:04.920 in another odd twist of fate, Preston Madden died on May fifth, twenty 342 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:10.119 twenty, less than two months after the deaths of Bill Canan and Henry Vance. 343 00:25:10.839 --> 00:25:14.920 Why would Anita deny her friendship with Melanie? Is it because she did 344 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:18.759 know of these connections with these officers and she's trying to distance herself as much 345 00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:23.720 as possible. It seems really sad, like this family's already experiencing the trauma 346 00:25:23.720 --> 00:25:26.640 of Melanie going missing, and then Anita's like, ah, I'm not her 347 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:32.079 for like, I don't know her. She probably doesn't want anybody asking any 348 00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:37.400 more questions than necessary, disclosing any depth to their friendship could just lead to 349 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:41.839 more questions, especially if they're involved in any illicit activities, and often where 350 00:25:41.880 --> 00:25:45.480 there's horses, especially during this time period there was drug cartel money. Oh 351 00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:48.200 definitely. And I was reading a bit about these parties and they got some 352 00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:52.720 pretty prominent celebrities there, like I heard Muhammad Ali attended once and Burt Reynolds 353 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:56.759 that they would just go to the Kentucky Derby and then we'd be told, 354 00:25:56.799 --> 00:26:00.240 hey, you know this woman named Anita Man, she holds the greatest party. 355 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:03.160 So I can only imagine that for someone like Bill Canan and Drew Thornton, 356 00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:06.640 who were trying to expand their drug trade, that this would be like 357 00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:10.359 a gold mine. All these wealthy celebrities, they can supply them with cocaine. 358 00:26:10.759 --> 00:26:14.720 And while Anita may not have had any like direct involvement or knowledge of 359 00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:18.279 Melanie's disappearance, I'm sure she didn't want to talk to police because they'll say, 360 00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:22.319 hey, what's going on with these parties here and all this cocaine thing. 361 00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:25.240 She just wanted to keep all this stuff away, which is why she's 362 00:26:25.400 --> 00:26:30.039 totally downplayed the situation. It definitely sounds like Canan and Thornton may have used 363 00:26:30.039 --> 00:26:34.519 Melanie to help them expand their operations involving drugs, though there are still conflicting 364 00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:40.519 reports about whether Melanie was romantically involved with either of them. I do find 365 00:26:40.519 --> 00:26:45.640 it to be interesting timing that Melanie's disappearance took place only two weeks after Thornton 366 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:49.039 resigned from the Lexington PD. One of the most prominent theories in this case 367 00:26:49.160 --> 00:26:53.039 is that Thornton or Canan, or both of them found out that Melanie had 368 00:26:53.039 --> 00:26:57.119 been talking openly about their illegal activities, and since they believed she knew too 369 00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:02.680 much and was a liability, they decided to murder her. But it's also 370 00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:06.799 possible that the crime was more personal, as Another theory which was pushed around, 371 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:10.519 is that Kenan got rid of Melody because she threatened to expose their affair 372 00:27:10.599 --> 00:27:14.960 to his wife. When Kenan was indicted on federal drug charges in nineteen ninety 373 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:18.559 three, a couple of witnesses testified that they had heard Canan and Thornton imply 374 00:27:18.680 --> 00:27:22.880 they were responsible for killing Melanie. But this was technically nothing more than hearsay 375 00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:27.240 evidence. You can't really charge a guy with murder just because someone else said 376 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:32.160 he smiled and kind of nodded when they asked if he did it. Yeah, 377 00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:33.440 And it's kind of hard to think that these two killers are going to 378 00:27:33.480 --> 00:27:37.079 be like, yeah, I did it, smile, smile, Like I 379 00:27:37.559 --> 00:27:42.400 think they were pretty high level criminals. They're obviously running these drug enterprises and 380 00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:47.160 skimming money off the top and you know, getting caught for doing dirty deeds 381 00:27:47.160 --> 00:27:49.599 at the law enforcement agency. So I don't know that they would really so 382 00:27:49.720 --> 00:27:55.759 openly act in that way. The information was coming from people in prison. 383 00:27:56.440 --> 00:28:00.960 You did have the FBI agent who said that there was some kind of information 384 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:03.480 that she received about the fact that they said they'd never find Melanie's body, 385 00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:07.839 but again, everything's kind of this third party hearsay information, so it's very 386 00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:11.960 hard to really pin that on Thornton and Cannon. But I do think the 387 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:17.559 affair, or having abused his power and holding kind of something kind of sexual 388 00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:22.279 dominance over Melanie would have definitely caused Cannon to be very very purposeful in the 389 00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:26.839 way he tried to control her, and if that led to her death, 390 00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:32.720 I wouldn't be shocked. I just don't see Melanie, given that she spent 391 00:28:32.839 --> 00:28:37.519 all this time with people who are involved in this drug world, she knows 392 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:41.440 that silence is golden, that snitches get stitches. So do I believe that 393 00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:45.839 she was out there openly talking about how she was going to expose them. 394 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:49.039 No, I do not believe that. I just think that is really unlikely. 395 00:28:49.240 --> 00:28:52.920 She isn't a eighteen year old kid. She's twenty four years old. 396 00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:56.680 She spent a lot of years around these type of people. She knows that 397 00:28:57.200 --> 00:29:03.559 there could be serious ramifications for exposing people like this. And also if she 398 00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:07.039 went and did that, it would alienate her from her entire friend group, 399 00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:10.240 because if you're known to be a snitch, none of these people are going 400 00:29:10.279 --> 00:29:12.559 to want to be involved with you. So why would she purposefully go out 401 00:29:12.599 --> 00:29:15.680 and just start talking about how she was going to expose them. I just 402 00:29:15.960 --> 00:29:21.000 don't believe that that happened. I think she pushed him and said, I 403 00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:22.759 want to take this further. You need to tell your wife or I'm going 404 00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:26.440 to tell her. And if you don't, then you know, I'm going 405 00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:29.680 to show up at your door and I'm going to make it known who I 406 00:29:29.720 --> 00:29:33.079 am and what's been going on. And then I think Nan who knows what 407 00:29:33.119 --> 00:29:36.640 he said to Thornton, but he could have just said, hey, she's 408 00:29:36.680 --> 00:29:38.440 become a problem and we need to deal with this type of a thing. 409 00:29:40.200 --> 00:29:42.640 And you mentioned like Melody like how it seems very unlikely that you would have 410 00:29:42.640 --> 00:29:47.599 tried to expose the operation because not only would have alienated her from her friends, 411 00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:51.799 but it would have done damage to her family's reputation because her father was 412 00:29:51.880 --> 00:29:55.440 a former state senator, her mother was a respected pillar of the community, 413 00:29:55.480 --> 00:29:59.920 and her brother was a Major League baseball player. And if she just exposes 414 00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:03.640 all all this information and becomes an informant, even though her family did nothing 415 00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:07.839 wrong, it's going to harm them through guilt by association because they know that 416 00:30:07.160 --> 00:30:11.519 this member of her family was hanging out with people who were involved in drugs. 417 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:15.160 So that's yet another reason why it seems unlikely that she was going to 418 00:30:15.240 --> 00:30:18.720 expose the operation. But do you remember that quote from the informant who said 419 00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:23.200 that deec Thorne once told him that Kennon had said that he killed Melody because 420 00:30:23.240 --> 00:30:26.119 he loved her too much. Yeah, doesn't that kind of sound like a 421 00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:30.400 line that a narcissistic person like that would say that he's justifying it, saying 422 00:30:30.440 --> 00:30:33.799 that, oh, I had to get rid of her because I loved her 423 00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:36.599 too much, and she wouldn't do what I say, like as if they're 424 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:40.160 justifying their actions. Oh, I did it for your own good, like 425 00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:45.039 pure abuse. It sounds like the most promising lead during the past four decades 426 00:30:45.160 --> 00:30:49.079 has been the dig which took place to search for Melanie's remains at Murphy's Landing 427 00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:55.000 during the summer of twenty nineteen. I find it very interesting that two completely 428 00:30:55.039 --> 00:31:00.359 separate eyewitnesses advised police to dig at that location, and they both specifically mentioned 429 00:31:00.359 --> 00:31:04.440 a sceptical and this is definitely not the first time anyone's name Murphy's Landing is 430 00:31:04.440 --> 00:31:10.440 a possible burial location. In twenty twelve, a local news station produced a 431 00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:14.880 segment about this case with Melanie's younger brother, Brad, and it featured him 432 00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:18.960 taking a trip to Murphy's Landing as he claimed that multiple people have mentioned this 433 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:22.240 spot to him over the years. Brad even pointed towards a cave he searched 434 00:31:22.240 --> 00:31:26.279 through containing a large hole covered by a heavy metal plate which he was unable 435 00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:30.799 to move. However, it's unclear if the authorities that ever made any additional 436 00:31:30.839 --> 00:31:34.400 attempts to search in there. Again, how sad is this? You have? 437 00:31:34.599 --> 00:31:37.640 Brad You've already seen this with the poor mom right. Ella has already 438 00:31:37.759 --> 00:31:41.759 taken on the role of investigator. Now Brad, her younger brother is doing 439 00:31:41.799 --> 00:31:45.480 the same thing where he's saying, listen, no one's paying attention to her 440 00:31:45.519 --> 00:31:49.279 case. I've heard all of these rumors. I've heard this information. So 441 00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:53.160 here I am at the spot looking for her body, trying to financers in 442 00:31:53.160 --> 00:31:57.319 her case. I mean, it's incredibly brave and powerful, but it's also 443 00:31:57.440 --> 00:32:02.960 incredibly traumatizing. Is enraging to me when I watched families have to take on 444 00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:08.519 the role of spokesperson, detective, moral support and emotional support for everyone around 445 00:32:08.519 --> 00:32:14.039 them, and then they're left with no one professionally holding their hand. So 446 00:32:14.079 --> 00:32:17.880 do we think that Preston and Madden are the ones that are responsible for these 447 00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:23.559 later tips about Murphy's landing. It's possible, Like Preston, I know that 448 00:32:24.039 --> 00:32:30.400 Anita Madden was already deceased by twenty and eighteen, but Preston Madden passed away 449 00:32:30.519 --> 00:32:34.160 in twenty twenty, and they mentioned that one of the tipsters in two and 450 00:32:34.279 --> 00:32:37.960 nineteen was on his deathbed when he made the confession, And you look at 451 00:32:37.960 --> 00:32:39.960 the timing, it's possible that he could have been one of the people feeding 452 00:32:39.960 --> 00:32:45.079 the information. That he may not have been directly involved in Melanie's disappearance, 453 00:32:45.119 --> 00:32:47.599 but he was associated with all these people, so he might have had some 454 00:32:47.720 --> 00:32:52.079 knowledge that he just felt he needed to get off his chest. So Murphy's 455 00:32:52.160 --> 00:32:55.839 Landing is also located next to the Kentucky River, and it sounds like it's 456 00:32:55.880 --> 00:33:00.440 not too far from the location where Melanie's purse was found, So you have 457 00:33:00.599 --> 00:33:04.880 to think this area has some significance. While the police have never disclosed the 458 00:33:04.920 --> 00:33:08.720 identities of the two elderly individuals who provided them with the information which compelled them 459 00:33:08.759 --> 00:33:12.799 to perform the dig, it was stated that one of them was on their 460 00:33:12.839 --> 00:33:15.799 deathbed, and like we said, Bill Canan, Henry Vance, and Preston 461 00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:21.240 Madden, three individuals who may have had knowledge about what happened, all passed 462 00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:24.720 away in close proximity to each other. During the first half of twenty twenty. 463 00:33:25.279 --> 00:33:30.039 It was also confirmed that Canan was re interviewed by investigators, and I 464 00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:34.200 am intrigued by the choice of words they used. Quote we left the interview 465 00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:37.119 believing that he did not know the location of her body. Now, that 466 00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:42.440 might not necessarily mean that they believe Canan is innocent. He may very well 467 00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:45.079 have been complicit or at full knowledge of what happened to Melody, but if 468 00:33:45.119 --> 00:33:51.000 someone else was responsible for disposing of her body, he may legitimately not know 469 00:33:51.160 --> 00:33:53.279 where it is. That's what I was thinking when you said, like he 470 00:33:53.319 --> 00:33:55.559 didn't know where it was, I was like, well, that doesn't mean 471 00:33:55.599 --> 00:34:00.160 he wasn't involved in killing her or helping with this conspiracy to cover it up. 472 00:34:00.200 --> 00:34:05.039 Because this is a group of active criminals. I mean, we see 473 00:34:05.079 --> 00:34:09.719 each one of them kind of take their own fall and prove that they're actually 474 00:34:10.480 --> 00:34:15.599 way beyond any kind of moral compass. So I don't think I'm convinced that 475 00:34:15.679 --> 00:34:20.440 just because he wouldn't know where her body was that he didn't have something to 476 00:34:20.480 --> 00:34:22.880 do with it. And it's also possible he could have forgotten, because we've 477 00:34:22.920 --> 00:34:28.000 actually seen a lot of missing persons cases where the killer actually makes a full 478 00:34:28.039 --> 00:34:30.400 confession and says that I did this, I disposed of their body at this 479 00:34:30.480 --> 00:34:34.800 location, and then they searched for it and they can't find anything, and 480 00:34:34.840 --> 00:34:37.599 they say, well, my memory is kind of hazy. Maybe this isn't 481 00:34:37.599 --> 00:34:40.840 the right place, especially when you're talking about like rural remote locations. So 482 00:34:40.840 --> 00:34:45.679 maybe they got the impression that Canand did know where Melanie's body was, that 483 00:34:45.719 --> 00:34:47.599 he could have disposed of it, but because of his advanced age, he 484 00:34:47.719 --> 00:34:52.239 would not be able to find it if he tried. And landscape changes over 485 00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:58.239 time too, so things that maybe identifying markers might not be there anymore. 486 00:34:58.320 --> 00:35:02.400 So certain things like that coupled with advanced age and like a hazy memory. 487 00:35:02.800 --> 00:35:07.119 We know that. We talk about I witness identification all the time. I 488 00:35:07.159 --> 00:35:09.400 think, if you're going to a remote rural location, you're disposing of a 489 00:35:09.440 --> 00:35:14.400 body, and so many you know, years later you go back and are 490 00:35:14.440 --> 00:35:17.159 like trying to find it, what are the chances you're able to pinpoint that 491 00:35:17.199 --> 00:35:22.159 location without some kind of marker, oh exactly. And I think that might 492 00:35:22.199 --> 00:35:24.480 be the case with Canan. And I should clarified that of all the people 493 00:35:24.480 --> 00:35:29.039 who died in twenty twenty, Canan is the least likely to have made the 494 00:35:29.079 --> 00:35:31.360 deathbed confession. He does not strike me as anyone who would admit to what 495 00:35:31.440 --> 00:35:35.679 he did, oh one hundred percent. That's why I didn't even bring him 496 00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:38.400 up when I knew it was like Vance, Preston and Canan, it all 497 00:35:38.480 --> 00:35:42.719 died within that time period, and like, there's no way the Canan was 498 00:35:42.760 --> 00:35:45.559 the one that did it. He's just not our guy. If Melanie was 499 00:35:45.639 --> 00:35:50.760 killed because she knew too much, then how exactly would these events have played 500 00:35:50.760 --> 00:35:53.360 out. It really did not appear that there was anything out of the ordinary 501 00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:57.840 on the day Melanie went missing as she was heading to an appointment with her 502 00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:00.760 psychiatrist and told her family she was planning to join them for dinner, but 503 00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:06.639 something obviously happened after she left her office. I think this case might hinge 504 00:36:06.639 --> 00:36:09.039 on the accuracy of the sighting of Melanie talking to someone in a blue van. 505 00:36:10.239 --> 00:36:14.800 Did this person compel Melanie to stop and pull over? Since her car 506 00:36:14.800 --> 00:36:19.480 was ultimately found at another location. Did the person in the van convince Melanie 507 00:36:19.480 --> 00:36:22.360 to drive somewhere where she was subsequently set up and killed. I would be 508 00:36:22.360 --> 00:36:25.719 curious to know if there was anyone from Melanie's life, such as Canan or 509 00:36:25.719 --> 00:36:30.320 Thornton, who could have been linked to a blue van during that time period. 510 00:36:30.760 --> 00:36:35.239 I'd also be interested to know if the guy who did the adult videos, 511 00:36:35.360 --> 00:36:37.800 if he had anybody involved in that. I still believe that it's possible 512 00:36:37.880 --> 00:36:43.639 either he or his girls were involved in trying to lure her or get her 513 00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:45.960 involved. Maybe there had been a demand for her. I think that was 514 00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:50.719 definitely a possibility as well. Oh yeah, it just says something when there 515 00:36:50.719 --> 00:36:52.719 are so many shady characters in the story that you could just say, well, 516 00:36:52.760 --> 00:36:55.559 it could be this person or it could be that person. And it's 517 00:36:55.599 --> 00:37:00.480 possible that all these people we mentioned are involved in some capacity. Even if 518 00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:02.559 they didn't directly kill her, they do know what happened to her and have 519 00:37:02.679 --> 00:37:07.360 remained silent all these years. It's literally like the Boys on the Track case, 520 00:37:07.400 --> 00:37:13.159 where it's so hard to keep track of all these characters in all their 521 00:37:13.639 --> 00:37:17.639 illicit activities that they're up to, because it's just so twisted, right, 522 00:37:17.719 --> 00:37:21.519 It's almost like Tommy Ziegler, Yeah, in the sense that there's just so 523 00:37:21.559 --> 00:37:27.880 many different moving parts and these big personalities all involved exactly. And that's what 524 00:37:27.920 --> 00:37:30.119 it was like with the Boys in the Track, all these personalities and criminal 525 00:37:30.239 --> 00:37:34.440 figures, and of course the allegations that Bill Clint was involved. And then 526 00:37:34.480 --> 00:37:37.280 many years later we have this professional wrestler, Billy Jack Haynes, coming forward 527 00:37:37.320 --> 00:37:40.800 with a confession saying that he was involved. So now one of these days 528 00:37:40.800 --> 00:37:45.039 I'm expecting a wrestler to come forward and say that they were present when Melody 529 00:37:45.119 --> 00:37:50.480 Flint was killed, So mark my words, that will happen. So I 530 00:37:50.519 --> 00:37:53.199 have heard rumors that during this time period what happened to Melanie may have been 531 00:37:53.239 --> 00:37:58.719 an open secret among many people, including members of a Lexington PD, but 532 00:37:58.880 --> 00:38:01.360 no one wanted to talk. And what ass to the tragedy is that it 533 00:38:01.400 --> 00:38:06.880 seems like fewer and fewer people who might know the truth about Melanie's disappearance are 534 00:38:06.920 --> 00:38:09.920 still with us. Even if the two men who provided the tips about Murphy's 535 00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.920 landing are telling the truth, the passage of time and the loss of memories 536 00:38:15.239 --> 00:38:19.440 may make it difficult to find the exact location where Melanie's remains are buried. 537 00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:22.440 However, over the years, it's been said countless times that all it might 538 00:38:22.440 --> 00:38:25.800 take to crack this case is for the right person to come forward, and 539 00:38:25.880 --> 00:38:30.920 there might still be people out there who have the necessary information for a resolution. 540 00:38:30.599 --> 00:38:35.559 So if you happen to know anything about the unsolved disappearance of Melanie Flynn, 541 00:38:35.960 --> 00:38:40.039 please contact the appropriate authorities. Jewels Ashley, any final thoughts in this 542 00:38:40.119 --> 00:38:45.360 case, I'll tell you this one is one of those where you know why 543 00:38:45.639 --> 00:38:50.239 people didn't come forward. You have a lot of law enforcement agents who are 544 00:38:50.320 --> 00:38:53.719 involved in this case or at least have connections to Melanie. You also watch 545 00:38:53.800 --> 00:39:00.519 as these powerful men make mistakes, they purposely break the law, and instead 546 00:39:00.559 --> 00:39:05.559 of getting punished, they're rewarded, they're promoted, they're overlooked, right, 547 00:39:05.599 --> 00:39:08.360 They're allowed to behave the way they want, which emboldens them, which makes 548 00:39:08.360 --> 00:39:13.559 them more and more dangerous. So I think anyone who's interacting with people on 549 00:39:13.599 --> 00:39:15.639 that level, they start to realize, like, this person's dangerous, which 550 00:39:15.679 --> 00:39:20.639 would make it very scary to ever come forward and say something. I hate 551 00:39:20.639 --> 00:39:24.119 that so much time has passed, We've seen almost every main character and villain 552 00:39:24.159 --> 00:39:30.800 in this case pass away, her parents have passed away. And yet all 553 00:39:30.960 --> 00:39:35.119 you see, all the good you see in this case is again the family 554 00:39:35.159 --> 00:39:37.199 who's saying, look, if the police aren't going to act, we're going 555 00:39:37.280 --> 00:39:42.400 to act. We're going to hire people above and beyond the local law enforcement 556 00:39:42.400 --> 00:39:45.639 agents to see if we can get answers for our sister to bring our daughter 557 00:39:45.719 --> 00:39:50.480 home. And so far that hasn't resulted in anything for them. But I 558 00:39:50.599 --> 00:39:54.639 have so much respect for this family. It is a very disturbing case because 559 00:39:54.719 --> 00:40:00.159 there's no sign of Melanie. There's no concept of no what happened when she 560 00:40:00.280 --> 00:40:05.360 left work that day, And it's in Melanie's case like she's a kid, 561 00:40:05.440 --> 00:40:08.119 like any of us were right. She had every opportunity before her, She 562 00:40:08.239 --> 00:40:13.079 had a supportive family, she had plans for the evening to go home, 563 00:40:13.159 --> 00:40:17.840 and she never made it. Incredibly tragic and sad. This case really breaks 564 00:40:17.840 --> 00:40:22.280 my heart. I mean every case we cover breaks my heart. But poor 565 00:40:22.440 --> 00:40:27.599 Melanie. She grew up with this privilege and these people who are highly educated 566 00:40:27.679 --> 00:40:30.800 in positions of power, who were incredible athletes, and she seemed like a 567 00:40:30.840 --> 00:40:36.079 wonderful young woman, but then having this head injury, having this young marriage 568 00:40:36.079 --> 00:40:39.880 where she was nineteen years old, she marries this horse breeder's son, and 569 00:40:40.039 --> 00:40:45.360 he obviously is abusive and he strikes her in the head, and this exacerbates 570 00:40:45.360 --> 00:40:49.199 her head injury, and she deals with some amnesia. So I can't imagine 571 00:40:49.239 --> 00:40:52.880 what ramifications this head injury had. Perhaps it could have led to some impulsivity 572 00:40:52.920 --> 00:40:58.400 issues, which could explain the drugs and alcohol and some of the issues she 573 00:40:58.480 --> 00:41:01.840 may have been having. But I just think that this entrance of Canan, 574 00:41:02.039 --> 00:41:07.800 that he's such an insidious and malignant figure for Melanie and that he is the 575 00:41:07.840 --> 00:41:13.559 one who is responsible, in my personal opinion, for whatever happened to her. 576 00:41:13.960 --> 00:41:17.039 And I think the most likely theory is that he was having an affair 577 00:41:17.079 --> 00:41:22.960 with her and she probably said that she was going to expose it because she 578 00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:25.159 had genuine feelings for him. She was telling people she wanted to marry him, 579 00:41:25.360 --> 00:41:29.559 and he clearly wasn't on the same page because he was already married. 580 00:41:30.039 --> 00:41:34.119 And I just find it like a gross kind of subtext that we've also got 581 00:41:34.280 --> 00:41:37.960 Thornton who and on a couple quote unquote dates with her. It just feels 582 00:41:38.039 --> 00:41:43.920 like Ashley had said like they're like wolf packing her. Feels like Cresbow may 583 00:41:43.920 --> 00:41:46.119 have been as well. So we've got all of these characters in there that 584 00:41:46.239 --> 00:41:51.199 seemed to be taking advantage of women and seemed to be exploiting them, and 585 00:41:51.239 --> 00:41:54.360 there's this really skewed power dynamic, and Melanie seemed to be a victim of 586 00:41:54.400 --> 00:41:59.719 that. And I'm not sure the exact people that were involved, but I 587 00:41:59.760 --> 00:42:06.039 think that it is very likely that both Thornton and Canan were involved, and 588 00:42:06.679 --> 00:42:10.800 Bizarc whether or not he knew he's never been implicated in anything. He didn't 589 00:42:10.840 --> 00:42:15.360 do a good job with Melanie's disappearance. He didn't cross his teas and dot 590 00:42:15.440 --> 00:42:19.840 his eyes, and we saw him get huge promotions and like writing all these 591 00:42:19.840 --> 00:42:24.039 police manuals, and then we also saw that with vance Right he gets to 592 00:42:24.119 --> 00:42:29.360 work for a governor and then he spies for the drug organization. So it's 593 00:42:29.400 --> 00:42:34.840 just a story of like male privilege being taken too far and these really unhealthy 594 00:42:34.840 --> 00:42:38.880 power dynamics, and it is just it's unfortunate that Ella and Bobby, Doug 595 00:42:38.880 --> 00:42:43.079 and Brad never got to see what happened to their daughter and their sister, 596 00:42:43.679 --> 00:42:46.320 because they deserve that. But I mean, Doug and Brad still have the 597 00:42:46.320 --> 00:42:51.719 opportunity to find out what did happen. So if anybody is still alive, 598 00:42:51.880 --> 00:42:55.400 or anybody has any even second hand information, please come forward and share it 599 00:42:55.480 --> 00:43:00.280 because Melanie's family and friends deserve to know what happened to her. Yeah. 600 00:43:00.320 --> 00:43:04.800 I remember when I covered this case on the Trail when Cold. I mainly 601 00:43:04.840 --> 00:43:07.679 did it because it was a listener's suggestion, so I looked it up on 602 00:43:07.719 --> 00:43:09.760 the Charlie Project. I looked at Melanie's profile page, and I said, 603 00:43:09.760 --> 00:43:13.679 oh, this looks pretty interesting. I might cover it. But I didn't 604 00:43:13.679 --> 00:43:15.800 realize what a rabbit hole it was because I at the time I was not 605 00:43:15.960 --> 00:43:21.400 yet aware of the blue Grass Conspiracy and the entire book and all this stuff 606 00:43:21.400 --> 00:43:24.559 about the drug trafficking and all the corruption going on. So I started reading 607 00:43:24.599 --> 00:43:28.039 and it's like, Wow, what have I got myself into. It just 608 00:43:28.280 --> 00:43:31.840 seemed like Melanie Flynn's disappearance was just to the tip of the iceberg that whence 609 00:43:31.880 --> 00:43:36.920 she went missing. This kind of shone a spotlight on all this terrible corruption 610 00:43:36.960 --> 00:43:39.519 that was going on in the Lexington Police Department at that time. And even 611 00:43:39.559 --> 00:43:43.840 though the corrupt cops on there wound up leaving, they went on to do 612 00:43:43.960 --> 00:43:49.280 bigger things in more elaborate drug trafficking operations and pretty much used their power to 613 00:43:49.480 --> 00:43:52.880 harm a lot of people. And yeah, I do agree that Bill Can 614 00:43:52.960 --> 00:43:57.760 and Drew Thorn were most likely involved and directly responsible for what happened to Melanie. 615 00:43:58.199 --> 00:44:00.639 We may never know the motive, We may never know if it's related 616 00:44:00.679 --> 00:44:05.119 to drug trafficking, or it might just simply because Kenan was having an affair 617 00:44:05.159 --> 00:44:07.679 with her and she was threatening to expose the affair to his wife, so 618 00:44:07.719 --> 00:44:13.480 he decided to kill her. But we knew that the police department did like 619 00:44:13.559 --> 00:44:19.079 a terrible disservice by not properly investigating her disappearance and just assuming that she ran 620 00:44:19.159 --> 00:44:22.199 off and that she was alive without actually finding her and confirming that she was 621 00:44:22.239 --> 00:44:25.239 alive. I mean, we still don't know if this was just laziness and 622 00:44:25.280 --> 00:44:30.719 her competence, or if there was like a conspiracy to just try to make 623 00:44:30.719 --> 00:44:34.280 her disappearance go away, because there was just so much corruption going on in 624 00:44:34.280 --> 00:44:37.599 the department at that time. But it is just a major same that Melanie's 625 00:44:37.599 --> 00:44:42.480 parents lived to the age of ninety five but then both passed away without learning 626 00:44:42.480 --> 00:44:45.519 the truth about what happened. It does seem that there are a lot of 627 00:44:45.519 --> 00:44:49.360 people out there who do have information about what happened, because we had a 628 00:44:49.360 --> 00:44:52.960 couple of deathbed confessions in recent years which didn't lead to a resolution. But 629 00:44:53.039 --> 00:44:57.039 at the very least, it shows that the case is still active and that 630 00:44:57.119 --> 00:45:00.719 a lot of the key figures like Kenan and Thornton since passed away, that 631 00:45:01.239 --> 00:45:06.239 there's still a chance that because they no longer fear the perpetrators, that someone 632 00:45:06.280 --> 00:45:08.679 will come forward and finally have the courage to share the full truth about what 633 00:45:08.760 --> 00:45:13.800 happened and give information that will lead to the recovery of Melanie's remains. So 634 00:45:13.880 --> 00:45:16.719 that's why we urge anyone out there to come forward, because it's been forty 635 00:45:16.719 --> 00:45:21.599 six years now and her family, her surviving family, are still waiting for 636 00:45:21.679 --> 00:45:24.239 answers. Robin, do you want to tell us a little bit about the 637 00:45:24.239 --> 00:45:29.199 Trail Went Cold Patreon? Yes, The Trail Cold Patreon has been around for 638 00:45:29.320 --> 00:45:34.280 three years now, and we offer the standard bonus features like early ad free 639 00:45:34.320 --> 00:45:37.960 episodes, and I also send out stickers and sign thank you cards to anyone 640 00:45:37.960 --> 00:45:42.559 who signs up with us on Patreon. If you join our five dollar tier 641 00:45:42.880 --> 00:45:47.360 Tier two, we also offer monthly bonus episodes in which I talk about cases 642 00:45:47.360 --> 00:45:52.280 which are not featured on the Trail Went Cold's original feed, so they're exclusive 643 00:45:52.320 --> 00:45:54.920 to Patreon, and if you join our highest tier tier three, the ten 644 00:45:54.960 --> 00:46:00.719 dollar tier. One of the features we offer is a audio comment track over 645 00:46:00.760 --> 00:46:05.559 classic episodes of UNSAWD Mysteries, where you can download an audio file and then 646 00:46:06.039 --> 00:46:10.159 root up the original unsaw Mysteries episode on Amazon Prime or YouTube and play it 647 00:46:10.199 --> 00:46:15.079 with my audio commentary playing in the background, where I just provide trivia and 648 00:46:15.159 --> 00:46:19.840 factoids about the cases featured in this episode. And incidentally, the very first 649 00:46:19.880 --> 00:46:23.079 episode that I did a commentary track over was the episode featuring this case. 650 00:46:23.159 --> 00:46:28.199 So if you want to download a commentary track in which I make more smartass 651 00:46:28.239 --> 00:46:31.440 remarks about Juel Kaylor than be sure to join Tier three. So I want 652 00:46:31.480 --> 00:46:35.559 to let you know a little bit about the Jewels and Ashley Patreons. So 653 00:46:35.599 --> 00:46:38.599 there's early ad free episodes of The Path Went Chili. We've got our Path 654 00:46:38.679 --> 00:46:43.159 Went Chili minis, which are always over an hour, so they're not very 655 00:46:43.199 --> 00:46:45.239 many, but they're just too short to turn into a series, and we're 656 00:46:45.239 --> 00:46:49.960 really enjoying doing those, so we hope you'll check out those. Patreons will 657 00:46:49.960 --> 00:46:52.079 link them in the show notes. So I want to thank you all for 658 00:46:52.159 --> 00:46:55.480 listening, and any chance you have to share us on social media with a 659 00:46:55.519 --> 00:47:00.159 friend or to rate and review is greatly appreciate it. You can email us 660 00:47:00.159 --> 00:47:02.800 at The Pathwent Chili at gmail dot com. You can reach us on Twitter 661 00:47:02.920 --> 00:47:07.639 at the Pathwin. So until next time, be sure to bundle up because 662 00:47:07.719 --> 00:47:12.199 cold trails and chili pass call for warm clothing music by Paul Rich from the 663 00:47:12.239 --> 00:47:13.920 podcast Cold Callers comedy