Speaker 1: In the final Update episode of twenty twenty four, we
Speaker 1: take a look back at six cases previously featured on
Speaker 1: the show which have had major updates. First, there is
Speaker 1: the case of Charles and Catherine Romer, an elderly couple
Speaker 1: who have been missing for more than forty years after
Speaker 1: checking into a South Georgia area hotel. For decades. It's
Speaker 1: been believed that the couple were likely targeted by murderous thieves,
Speaker 1: but now the discovery of new evidence suggests the truth
Speaker 1: as far less grizzly and much closer to home. We'll
Speaker 1: also touch on developments in the two thousand disappearance of
Speaker 1: nine year old Asia Degree, the horrific nineteen eighty nine
Speaker 1: abduction and murder of five year old Justin Turner, and
Speaker 1: new developments about those charged with the crime. We'll also
Speaker 1: discuss the verdict in the case against the man accused
Speaker 1: of abducting and murdering four year old Jessica Gutierrez, new
Speaker 1: theories in the two thousand and one disappearance of twenty
Speaker 1: year old Brandon Perry outside of Skidmore, Missouri, and finally,
Speaker 1: new charges filed against the suspect in the twenty twelve
Speaker 1: murder of nineteen year old Chapel Hill resident Faith Hedge Peth. Finally,
Speaker 1: as always, we'll be releasing a twenty twenty four wrap
Speaker 1: up episode later in the year where we'll answer all
Speaker 1: of your burning questions, So stick around for all of
Speaker 1: the information necessary to get your questions in before the deadline.
Speaker 1: This is Trace Evidence twenty twenty four final updates of
Speaker 1: the year. Welcome to Trace Evidence. I'm your host, Stephen Pacheco.
Speaker 1: Today we will be looking back at six updates and
Speaker 1: cases previously featured on the show. I want to thank
Speaker 1: all of you who've emailed and messaged me about some
Speaker 1: of these updates. You're all extremely passionate and motivated, and
Speaker 1: I love it. By the nature of this show, however,
Speaker 1: I generally do have to take time before I can
Speaker 1: release updates so as to provide all of the relevant information.
Speaker 1: It's not so easy to do it in real time,
Speaker 1: especially when things come out and drips and drops. So
Speaker 1: thank you all again for your messages and your emails. Now,
Speaker 1: one last note before jumping into these updates, I wanted
Speaker 1: to let you know about the Q and A. It's
Speaker 1: that time of year again, as New Year's Eve approaches
Speaker 1: and we look. To wrap up our coverage for twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four, back by popular demand, we will once again
Speaker 1: be releasing a year end Q and A episode full
Speaker 1: of questions from listeners like you. You can visit Trace dash
Speaker 1: Evidence dot com slash twenty twenty four QA and submit
Speaker 1: your questions. I'll also include a link in the show notes.
Speaker 1: You can also submit your questions in email, sending them
Speaker 1: to me at Trace evidencepodatgmail dot com. Just make sure
Speaker 1: you use a subject line like twenty twenty four Q
Speaker 1: and A so you don't get lost in the mix. Otherwise,
Speaker 1: you can submit questions on social media or directly through
Speaker 1: the podcast linktree page, which is also in the show notes.
Speaker 1: As always, you can ask anything you want, whether it's
Speaker 1: about the show, previous cases, future cases, me or anything
Speaker 1: in between. Now, without further delay, let's jump into these updates.
Speaker 1: Episode one hundred and seventy three, The Vanishing of Charles
Speaker 1: and Catherine Romer. Seventy three year old Charles Romer and
Speaker 1: his wife, seventy five year old Katherine would leave their Scarsdale,
Speaker 1: New York home to spend their winters in the warmth
Speaker 1: and sunshine of Florida. The couple would spend the colder
Speaker 1: months down south, living in a luxury apartment at the
Speaker 1: Seaview Hotel in Bell Harbor. At the end of the
Speaker 1: winter and generally during the return of spring, the roamers
Speaker 1: would pack up their car, a custom Lincoln Continental, and
Speaker 1: make the long drive back to New York. In the
Speaker 1: spring of nineteen eighty, however, the roamers would mysteriously vanish,
Speaker 1: leading many to wonder if the elderly couple had been
Speaker 1: targeted for robbery and murder, given that they lived a
Speaker 1: lavish lifestyle and that Catherine had thousands and thousands of
Speaker 1: dollars worth of jewelry on her as they traveled. On
Speaker 1: the morning of Tuesday, April eighth, the couple left Florida
Speaker 1: and arrived at their first stop, a holiday in hotel
Speaker 1: in Brunswick, Georgia, not far from the Florida state line.
Speaker 1: The couple checked into the hotel at approximately four pm
Speaker 1: that day, but what happened next has never been determined.
Speaker 1: After two days passed with no sightings of the couple,
Speaker 1: on Thursday, April tenth, a maid entered the room when
Speaker 1: found personal effects, but no sign of the couple, nor
Speaker 1: any indication that they'd even spent the night in that room.
Speaker 1: Two more days passed when, on Saturday, April twelfth, Charles
Speaker 1: Romer Junior began trying to reach the couple. Junior quickly
Speaker 1: learned that the roamers had not been seen after arriving
Speaker 1: in Georgia and had never arrived at their next scheduled
Speaker 1: stop in South Carolina. Massive searches were kicked off, spanning
Speaker 1: the route that they would have traveled and areas they
Speaker 1: were known to have been familiar with. Despite helicopters, search dogs,
Speaker 1: a large group of law enforcement and family members joining in,
Speaker 1: no trace of Charles or Catherine Romer was ever found
Speaker 1: until now case update in late November of this year.
Speaker 1: Actually just a few weeks ago, there was a massive
Speaker 1: break in this case, which has mystified family members and
Speaker 1: investigators for more than four decades. After learning about the
Speaker 1: roamers disappearance, a group of volunteer divers decided to pay
Speaker 1: a visit to Brunswick to see if there was anything
Speaker 1: to be found. The divers utilize sonar equipment to search
Speaker 1: bodies of water for vehicles in their hunt to close
Speaker 1: out missing persons cases from across the country. The group,
Speaker 1: Sunshine State Sonar is run by step brothers Mike Sullivan
Speaker 1: and John Martin, both of Florida. On Friday, November twenty second,
Speaker 1: the group started scanning various bodies of water located within
Speaker 1: a few miles of the Holiday Inn, where the roamers
Speaker 1: were last known to have been. Much to their surprise,
Speaker 1: while there are larger lakes and watery areas, their equipment
Speaker 1: came chirping to life as they scanned through a ten
Speaker 1: foot deep pond near a parking lot which during the
Speaker 1: roamers visit serviced the Holiday Inn, but now belongs to
Speaker 1: the Royal Inn, which stands in its place. The surface,
Speaker 1: the divers located a vehicle which appeared to match descriptions
Speaker 1: of the one which disappeared with the Romans inside of
Speaker 1: the vehicle. They also recovered human bones. Law enforcement in
Speaker 1: the area was shocked by the discovery. Glenn County Police
Speaker 1: Department spokesman Lawton Jay Dodd would tell the New York
Speaker 1: Times quote, it came out of the blue. It's a
Speaker 1: cold case that is not a cold case any longer.
Speaker 1: The investigations reopened end quote. Dodd went on to note
Speaker 1: that while they could not say with absolute certainty at
Speaker 1: this time if the car and remains are those of
Speaker 1: the Roamers. Pending official test results, he did confirm that
Speaker 1: the evidence found thus far certainly seems to point in
Speaker 1: that direction. According to Dodd, police need to verify the
Speaker 1: vehicle's identity by locating and confirming the ven number. In
Speaker 1: their efforts, they drained the small pond and then had
Speaker 1: to determine if the vehicle was in good enough shape
Speaker 1: to pull out from the water. At the same time,
Speaker 1: Dodd reported that forensic experts working with the GBI would
Speaker 1: need to analyze and hopefully identify the bones that were
Speaker 1: found inside the vehicle. On Monday, November twenty fifth, law
Speaker 1: enforcement got in touch with remaining members of the Romers family.
Speaker 1: One of their granddaughters, Christine Heller Seaman, was a little
Speaker 1: more certain of the discovery, as according to her, she
Speaker 1: was informed that in addition to bone fragments, there were
Speaker 1: personal items of the Roamers recovered. When the couple initially disappeared,
Speaker 1: it was believed they might have been killed and robbed
Speaker 1: of jewelry estimated in value to be around eighty one
Speaker 1: thousand dollars, which was in Catherine's possession, but according to Semen.
Speaker 1: Some of that jewelry was found inside of the vehicle.
Speaker 1: The family was shocked by the find, having believed for
Speaker 1: so long that it had been a double homicide and
Speaker 1: a robbery, and that the culprits were still out there somewhere.
Speaker 1: Heller Semen explained, saying, quote, we were led to believe
Speaker 1: the worst. They had assured us. It was a terrible
Speaker 1: robbery gone wrong. We don't have confirmation, but it's heading
Speaker 1: to It was an accident, not a horrific, painful death
Speaker 1: end quote. Seamen was just fifteen years old when her
Speaker 1: grandparents vanished and remembers the anguish the family felt in
Speaker 1: their unknowing. She went on to say, quote, it was
Speaker 1: a horrific time for all of us, and especially watching
Speaker 1: my father suffer. That was his mother end quote. According
Speaker 1: to Semen, over the years, her father and his siblings
Speaker 1: had gone down to Brunswick multiple times to identify bodies,
Speaker 1: none of which ever turned out to be their parents.
Speaker 1: This was another major find for Sunshine State Sonar, who
Speaker 1: to date have found human remains in more than a
Speaker 1: dozen cases since they began searching in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: Upon entering the water that Friday, the twenty second, Sullivan
Speaker 1: and Martin quickly located two large objects. Both were cars,
Speaker 1: with one being identified as a smaller size Sedan, while
Speaker 1: Sullivan described the second car as being longer and more boxing.
Speaker 1: Approaching the larger of the two, Sullivan immediately knew it
Speaker 1: was a Lincoln, telling The Times quote, I know Lincoln's.
Speaker 1: As soon as I pulled that up, I could clearly
Speaker 1: see this is a black Lincoln end quote. Moments after
Speaker 1: Sullivan identified the vehicle as being a Lincoln, Martin emerged
Speaker 1: from the water holding a human femur he'd managed to
Speaker 1: pull from the vehicle. At that point, they stopped all
Speaker 1: of their work and exited the water, notifying law enforcement.
Speaker 1: Sullivan explained, quote, once we discover remains, we call the police.
Speaker 1: It's a crime scene. End quote. Arriving at the scene
Speaker 1: and conducting their own dives, law enforcement recovered additional items,
Speaker 1: including a belt with Charles Romer's initials on it and
Speaker 1: several pieces of jewelry, though at the time of the
Speaker 1: find police would not confirm receipt of jewelry. There was
Speaker 1: also reportedly a license plate bearing the couple's initials recovered.
Speaker 1: Law enforcement does not anticipate getting confirmed genetic matches until
Speaker 1: testing is complete, which they say will take several months. Regardless,
Speaker 1: the family is convinced that their missing relatives have been found,
Speaker 1: and they're extremely grateful to learn that their debts were
Speaker 1: likely not the result of foul play. According to Semen,
Speaker 1: the family spent their Thanksgiving holiday together discussing the surprising
Speaker 1: and comforting fine. She explained, quote, the whole family just
Speaker 1: shared stories about them. It was a happy time because
Speaker 1: of this resolve, we're feeling it sort of gave us
Speaker 1: permission to celebrate their lives and talk about the fun
Speaker 1: memories without the feeling of dread, sorrow, and sadness end quote.
Speaker 1: Semen described Catherine as being very close with her grandchildren
Speaker 1: and having the title of life of the party. She
Speaker 1: described Charles as a lovely and generous man. According to Semen,
Speaker 1: the entire family is grateful for the efforts of Sunshine
Speaker 1: State Sonar, who have helped conclude a mystery which has
Speaker 1: haunted their family for decades. Semen explained to NBC saying, quote,
Speaker 1: we're all in shock, but we have this gratitude for
Speaker 1: the people that hunted this whole mystery down, people who
Speaker 1: don't know us and we're not related to and our
Speaker 1: perfect strangers would go to extensive measures to find answers
Speaker 1: and help give a family peace of mind and resolve
Speaker 1: end quote. Obviously, this break in the case is newly
Speaker 1: developing and there's a lot of information which hasn't yet
Speaker 1: been released. However, it seems fairly clear that everyone involved
Speaker 1: believes that Charles and Catherine Romer and their custom Lincoln
Speaker 1: have finally been found. It is a bittersweet ending, but
Speaker 1: far better than the horrible nightmare many had expected to
Speaker 1: discover had this case ever been broken. As always, I
Speaker 1: will keep up to date with what information comes out,
Speaker 1: and additional updates will be released pending the completion of
Speaker 1: the investigation and those genetic tests. Episode eleven the vanishing
Speaker 1: of Asia Degree. During the early morning hours of Monday,
Speaker 1: February fourteenth, two thousand, nine year old Asia Degree packed
Speaker 1: a bag and exited her family's home on her own,
Speaker 1: despite a storm which brought in heavy rains and wind.
Speaker 1: The child was spotted walking along North Carolina Highway eighteen,
Speaker 1: approximately a mile and a half from her Shelby home.
Speaker 1: She was reportedly seen running into a wooded area by
Speaker 1: a motorist who stopped to ask if she needed help.
Speaker 1: When her parents woke later in the day, they discovered
Speaker 1: their daughter missing. Despite a massive response from law enforcement
Speaker 1: and multiple searches, no one seemed to be able to
Speaker 1: determine the child's location or fate. One of the greatest mysteries,
Speaker 1: which still endures, is wondering why Asha decided to leave
Speaker 1: her home in the early morning darkness in the first place.
Speaker 1: A year and a half after disappearing, Asha's backpack was
Speaker 1: discovered buried at a construction site along Highway eighteen in Morganton,
Speaker 1: forty miles north of Shelby. Though there are many holes
Speaker 1: in the investigation. While it was initially theorized that Asha
Speaker 1: had run away, it was later believed that she had
Speaker 1: likely been abducted by someone who came upon her in
Speaker 1: the early morning hours, or perhaps someone who had convinced
Speaker 1: her to leave her family home in secret in the
Speaker 1: first place. Though local law enforcement and federal agencies have
Speaker 1: revealed smaller detail house about the case over the years,
Speaker 1: there has never been a suspect named or a firm
Speaker 1: theory presented about what might have happened until now case
Speaker 1: update earlier this year. On Tuesday, September eleventh, law enforcement
Speaker 1: descended upon a property located along Cherryville Road in Shelby.
Speaker 1: A large gathering of officers was quickly noted by local media,
Speaker 1: who learned that searches were being executed in connection with
Speaker 1: the February fourteenth, two thousand disappearance of fourth grader Asia degree.
Speaker 1: Cleveland County Sheriff Alan Norman confirmed the search was related
Speaker 1: to Asia, and noted that the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office
Speaker 1: had been joined in that search by the FBI and
Speaker 1: the State Bureau of Investigation. A house was the focus
Speaker 1: of the search, and law enforcement officers were seen carrying
Speaker 1: out boxes of unknown items. There was also a major
Speaker 1: focus put on an old car that was found parked
Speaker 1: in the driveway. The vehicle, then described as an older
Speaker 1: model green in color, would ultimately be towed off the
Speaker 1: property by police. It was noted that the vehicle very
Speaker 1: closely resembled descriptions given by police years earlier, when in
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen they stated they were looking for a nineteen
Speaker 1: seventies era green Ford Thunderbird or Lincoln Mark four. The
Speaker 1: vehicle toad did not match either of those descriptions, but
Speaker 1: did look similar to those two models. While searching the
Speaker 1: home and property, law enforcement were extremely tight lipped about
Speaker 1: what in particular they were looking for. While it was
Speaker 1: reported that some items of interest were recovered and taken
Speaker 1: into custody, there were no specifics given. Towards the end
Speaker 1: of the search, police brought in specially trained dogs to
Speaker 1: go through the home and over the property upon which
Speaker 1: it sat. While everything was kept under wraps for several days,
Speaker 1: A deli uge of new information was revealed on Monday,
Speaker 1: September sixteenth, when the search warrants and supporting affidavits were
Speaker 1: made available to the media. Firstly, documentation showed that the
Speaker 1: search of the Cherryville Road property in Shelby was but
Speaker 1: one of several searches executed, with others targeting a home
Speaker 1: in Charlotte as well as an assisted living facility in Vale.
Speaker 1: These locations are all associated with members of the Deadman family.
Speaker 1: According to the filing, The search warrants were sought out
Speaker 1: after a DNA test conclusively linked samples from previously acquired
Speaker 1: evidence to two separate people, a woman named Annelie Deadmond
Speaker 1: Ramirez and a man named Russell Underhill. Six years ago
Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen, law enforcement had noted that items found
Speaker 1: in acious backpack, which was found buried and double wrapped
Speaker 1: in garbage bags years earlier, did not belong to the
Speaker 1: missing child. How those items empted up in her bag,
Speaker 1: and more curiously, who they belonged to, became a prime
Speaker 1: focus for investigators. DNA found on some items is what
Speaker 1: was used to make the link to Deadman Ramirez in Underhill. Interestingly,
Speaker 1: a hair stem found on Asha's undershirt was tested and
Speaker 1: that is what made the link to Anna lie Deadman Ramirez,
Speaker 1: who was thirteen years old at the time of Asia's disappearance.
Speaker 1: According to the documents, there were two other Deadman girls
Speaker 1: in the area at the time of the disappearance, then
Speaker 1: being fifteen and sixteen years old at the time. One
Speaker 1: search warrant went further revealing what investigators now believe. The
Speaker 1: document specifies that they believe Asia is a quote victim
Speaker 1: of homicide with her body concealed. Given the dead men's
Speaker 1: sisters ages at the time, police stated they believed they
Speaker 1: had to have received some kind of adult assistance from
Speaker 1: their parents, Roy and Connie Deadman. The documents went on
Speaker 1: to explain that the issa asistance of Roy and Connie
Speaker 1: Deadman quote would have been necessary in the execution and
Speaker 1: or concealment of the crime. Roy Deadman's home is located
Speaker 1: at six point twenty one Cherryville Road, making it approximately
Speaker 1: three point seven miles from Asia's last known location near
Speaker 1: Highway eighteen and Wallace Grove Drive. The documents also revealed
Speaker 1: that prior to searching the deadman home, they had used
Speaker 1: drones to search the home and area surrounding it back
Speaker 1: in February, seven months prior to the search. Warnings Highway
Speaker 1: eighteen is a pivotal area in this case, with it
Speaker 1: being noted that Asia was seen by two witnesses walking
Speaker 1: along the highway the night she vanished. Asia's backpack was
Speaker 1: later found miles away in Burke County at a wooded
Speaker 1: site where a home was being built. That site was
Speaker 1: also a long Highway eighteen. The assisted living facility in
Speaker 1: Vale was identified as the Northbrook Rest Home, and it
Speaker 1: was noted that the facility is owned by Roy and
Speaker 1: Connie Deadman. Russell Underhill, one of the more mysterious names
Speaker 1: in the investigation, had previously lived in at least two
Speaker 1: facilities operated by the Deadman's at the time of Asia's disappearance, Underhill,
Speaker 1: who died in two thousand and four, lived at the
Speaker 1: Veil facility between two and four. It's not yet entirely
Speaker 1: clear what role, if any, Underhill played in the disappearance,
Speaker 1: but legal documents note that he quote new and associated
Speaker 1: with Roy Deadman. In fact, Deadman was listed as Underhill's
Speaker 1: emergency contact in his medical records. The house search in
Speaker 1: Charlotte targeted a home owned by Annalie Deadman. Lamirez Reportedly
Speaker 1: several different items were taken from Roy Deadman's home. Allegedly,
Speaker 1: Deadman has twenty nine vehicles registered to his name, with
Speaker 1: three green vehicles and one red truck spotted on his
Speaker 1: property during the searches. The green car towed from the
Speaker 1: property was later identified as an old amc rambler. Documents
Speaker 1: note that police took several computers, laptops, cell phones, and
Speaker 1: records from Deadman's home. Disturbingly, it was also noted that
Speaker 1: a human tooth in a plastic bag was found in
Speaker 1: the house. According to the warrants, Roy Deadman had a
Speaker 1: DNA sample taken from him during the searches. Connie at
Speaker 1: this time does not live at the Cherryville Road home,
Speaker 1: and police specified that they also searched her home, where
Speaker 1: they seized two computers, flash and hard drives, a tablet,
Speaker 1: and various memory cards. From Annelie Deadmond Ramirez's home in Charlotte,
Speaker 1: only a BlackBerry device was taken. Despite exhaustive searches, no
Speaker 1: human remains were found at any of the properties. When
Speaker 1: Asha's backpack was recovered, it was approximately seven miles away
Speaker 1: from Broughton Hospital, a state psychiatric hospital in Morganton. Interestingly,
Speaker 1: search warrants note that Roy Dedman often used to send
Speaker 1: one of his daughters to transport patients quote in an
Speaker 1: unreliable vehicle to and from Broughton Hospital in Morganton end quote.
Speaker 1: Around the time of Asia's disappearance, Highway eighteen, it was noted,
Speaker 1: quote is the most logical route to travel to and
Speaker 1: from Northbrook Rest Home and or Broughton Hospital end quote.
Speaker 1: The document went on to specify that Deadman would send
Speaker 1: his daughter, who was sixteen or seventeen years old at
Speaker 1: the time, not the then thirteen year old Annalie Deadman Ramirez.
Speaker 1: David Teddy, an attorney representing Roy Deadman, noted as being
Speaker 1: in his eighties at this time, confirmed the searches had occurred. However,
Speaker 1: Teddy reported that Deadman denied any involvement in or knowledge
Speaker 1: of Asia's disappearance. This was supported somewhat by statements in
Speaker 1: the warrant Affidie Davids that noted law enforcement could find
Speaker 1: no conclusive link between Roy Deadman and Asha or any
Speaker 1: other members of the Degree family. During a press conference
Speaker 1: held by Teddy, it was suggested that the deceased Russell
Speaker 1: Underhill may be the one who had knowledge of or
Speaker 1: involvement in the disappearance, with Teddy theorizing that police would
Speaker 1: ultimately link Underhill to the crime, but little could be
Speaker 1: done since he has since passed away. Asha's family were
Speaker 1: not surprisingly shocked and taken aback by the flurry of
Speaker 1: searches and release of new information. Asia's uncle, Jesse Jackson,
Speaker 1: spoke for the family for the most part. Speaking to
Speaker 1: WBTV News, Jackson stated how grateful they were to the
Speaker 1: community for never giving up, saying, quote, thank God for that.
Speaker 1: I thank God that they still have hope and faith.
Speaker 1: I hope and pray to God that they find her
Speaker 1: dead or alive, then we can be at rest and
Speaker 1: quote As of this current moment, the investigation is ongoing.
Speaker 1: No charges have been filed, nor have law enforcement laid
Speaker 1: out their theory on what exactly they believe happened to
Speaker 1: the missing child. Hopefully there will be more information coming
Speaker 1: soon and some kind of advancement in the case which
Speaker 1: might allow investigators to finally charge someone or at least
Speaker 1: locate and retrieve the child's body. Asha's case has been
Speaker 1: one that's stuck with me since the very beginning, and
Speaker 1: I sincerely hope investigators are closing in on finding justice
Speaker 1: for her and her family. For now, it remains to
Speaker 1: be seen. Cleveland County Sheriff Alan Norman urged the local
Speaker 1: community to be patient, to contact them if they had
Speaker 1: any information, and to try and avoid spreading baseless rumors
Speaker 1: and accusations. He also reminded them that there is a
Speaker 1: family at the heart of this case who have been
Speaker 1: searching for the truth for twenty four years. Sheriff Norman
Speaker 1: explained to the show observer, saying, quote, I know our
Speaker 1: community is anxious to learn about every aspect of our
Speaker 1: ongoing investigation. While we appreciate your support, I urge you
Speaker 1: to put yourself in the place of Asia's family, who
Speaker 1: for twenty four years have entrusted law enforcement to do
Speaker 1: everything possible to find her. Please do not spread or
Speaker 1: share rumors on social media. Official information will be released
Speaker 1: by my office when appropriate. Pray for Asia, her family,
Speaker 1: and everyone who has worked for decades to locate Shelby's
Speaker 1: sweet Look end quote. If you have information about this
Speaker 1: case and you wish to share it with investigators, please
Speaker 1: contact the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office at seven zero four
Speaker 1: four eight four four seven five six. Episodes one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy and one hundred and seventy one. The murder
Speaker 1: of Justin Turner. On Friday, March third, nineteen eighty nine,
Speaker 1: five year old Justin Turner mysteriously disappeared from his father
Speaker 1: and stepmother's home along Horseshoe Road in Monk's Corner, South Carolina.
Speaker 1: The child was allegedly on his way to a nearby
Speaker 1: bus stop to attend kindergarten classes at Whiteville Elementary School.
Speaker 1: For much of the day, no one seemed to know
Speaker 1: anything was wrong. However, when the bus returned that afternoon
Speaker 1: and Justin wasn't on it, his stepmother confronted the bus driver,
Speaker 1: who informed her that the five year old had never
Speaker 1: gotten on the bus that morning. A large scale search
Speaker 1: was quickly organized, but for nearly two days, no trace
Speaker 1: of the five year old could be found. Authorities began
Speaker 1: theorizing that the child had likely been abducted by someone
Speaker 1: who had been in the area, and that they had
Speaker 1: no way of knowing for certain whether or not Justin
Speaker 1: was still even in the area, let alone the state
Speaker 1: of South Carolina. All of that changed, though, on the
Speaker 1: morning of Sunday, March fifth, when Justin's body was found
Speaker 1: by his father, Victor, in a camper on the property.
Speaker 1: It was later determined that the child was sexually assaulted
Speaker 1: and killed via strangulation. Evidence began adding up, and law
Speaker 1: enforcement quickly turned their attention towards Victor and his wife,
Speaker 1: Justin's stepmother, Pamela, who in the years since has changed
Speaker 1: her name to Megan. While Victor was not charged back then,
Speaker 1: Pamela was, but a grand jury ultimately decided there was
Speaker 1: not enough solid evidence to return an indictment against her.
Speaker 1: Following that letdown, the case grew mostly cold until earlier
Speaker 1: this year. In January of twenty twenty four, investigators announced
Speaker 1: that a cold case team examining the investigation had uncovered
Speaker 1: new evidence. As a result of this evidence, Both Victor
Speaker 1: and Meghan were arrested in January and charged with murder
Speaker 1: six months later, though the case would take a dramatic turn.
Speaker 1: Case update. On Friday, June seventh of this year, Roger Young,
Speaker 1: a circuit court judge in the state of South Carolina,
Speaker 1: officially threw out the murder charges which had been filed
Speaker 1: against Justin's father, Victor Turner, and his wife, Megan Turner.
Speaker 1: Judge Young determined that there was in fact, no new
Speaker 1: evidence in the case, noting that the evidence used for
Speaker 1: the arrest earlier in the year was not based on
Speaker 1: new findings, but a detective's new interpretation of the original
Speaker 1: evidence and what it suggested. The detective, who originally worked
Speaker 1: the case in nineteen eighty nine was rehired by the
Speaker 1: Berkeley County Sheriff's office in twenty twenty one to review
Speaker 1: all cold case files. When it came to Justin's he
Speaker 1: testified that investigators had newly determined that tiny fibers from
Speaker 1: a ligature found at the home shortly after Justin disappeared
Speaker 1: were confirmed to match fibers found on Justin's shirt. According
Speaker 1: to the defense, using a microscope on old evidence should
Speaker 1: not legally constitute the discovery of new evidence. While it's
Speaker 1: all tangled up in legal ease, the fact of the
Speaker 1: matter appears to be that the evidence used to make
Speaker 1: the arrests was not new, and therefore it is unconstitutional
Speaker 1: to charge the turners thirty five years later without some
Speaker 1: new evidence. Regardless, law enforcement officers changed their theory of
Speaker 1: Justin's murder and described it in a new way in
Speaker 1: affidavits which had been provided to obtain the arrest warrants.
Speaker 1: While for years they had theorized that Justin had been
Speaker 1: strangled with a dog leash recovered from the home, they
Speaker 1: newly amended that to suggest the leech had been in
Speaker 1: pl but at the time it was attached to a
Speaker 1: dog collar, which was the actual ligature used to strangle
Speaker 1: the child. Police spent years trying to find that collar,
Speaker 1: even going so far as to dig up the dog's body,
Speaker 1: but it was never located. Judge Young noted that while
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty nine, both the caller and the dog
Speaker 1: would have been available for analysis, both have been lost
Speaker 1: to time. These facts, combined with the knowledge that more
Speaker 1: than twenty witnesses have either passed away or are now
Speaker 1: unable to testify, in the judge's opinion, would limit the
Speaker 1: defense's ability to properly work the case. Judge Young noted
Speaker 1: as an example that the defense could not question or
Speaker 1: challenge the statements of those witnesses who over the years
Speaker 1: informed police that they had heard incriminating statements from Victor,
Speaker 1: Meghan or both. In Judge Young's decision, he wrote, quote,
Speaker 1: this is a circumstantial evidence which depends, on part on
Speaker 1: some opposedly incriminating statements made to third persons. An availability
Speaker 1: of those witnesses for cross examination would be highly prejudicial
Speaker 1: to the defense end quote. Not only did Judge Young
Speaker 1: throw the case out, he did so with prejudice, meaning
Speaker 1: that neither Victor nor Megan Turner can ever be charged
Speaker 1: with Justin's murder. For their parts, both Victor and Meghan
Speaker 1: have always maintained their innocence, and following the judges ruling,
Speaker 1: both issued statements expressing their frustration over how the investigation
Speaker 1: was handled and how they were the primary focus, with
Speaker 1: their defense attorney Sean Kent stating during a news conference
Speaker 1: that he believed original investigators developed tunnel vision early on
Speaker 1: and were unable to properly analyze the murder because they
Speaker 1: would not consider other suspects. According to Kent, this baseless
Speaker 1: focus continued to be passed down through generations. He explained, quote,
Speaker 1: one sheriff after another would whisper a rumor in the
Speaker 1: next one's mind, and then the next one would say it,
Speaker 1: and the next one. This case is not based on
Speaker 1: any evidence. It is based on rumors and innuendos end quote.
Speaker 1: Sounds a little bit like Attorney Kent might be a
Speaker 1: fan of Bruce Pritchard, but I digress. Prosecutors were frustrated
Speaker 1: by the judges ruling, but it doesn't appear they were
Speaker 1: all that surprised. Reportedly, they acknowledged that they had no
Speaker 1: grounds to dispute Judge Young's ruling. Solicitor Scarlett Wilson, in
Speaker 1: a statement following the judges determination, acknowledged the hard work
Speaker 1: original investigators had done, saying, quote, it is rare that
Speaker 1: prosecutors can say there is nothing more that could have
Speaker 1: been done to conduct a more thorough investigation. But in
Speaker 1: this case, we know that Sheriff Lewis and his team
Speaker 1: of investigators did all they could do to find justice
Speaker 1: and truth. End quote. However, the prosecutor's office did not
Speaker 1: shy away from including their beliefs that the original investigation
Speaker 1: was flawed and evidence collection was less than stellar. Solicitor
Speaker 1: Wilson explained, writing quote, mistakes that were made thirty five
Speaker 1: years ago could not be remedied. The Court has found
Speaker 1: that the unavailability of this evidence is unjustly prejudicial to
Speaker 1: the defense. The Court has also noted the lack of
Speaker 1: any new evidence from this investigation end quote. Neither Wilson
Speaker 1: nor the Prosecutor's office elected to specify what mistakes exactly
Speaker 1: investigators had made in nineteen eighty nine. Justin's family were
Speaker 1: less forgiving and clearly frustrated and hurt by the judge's ruling,
Speaker 1: noting that they felt Justin and the family would never
Speaker 1: obtain justice. Several members of the family chose to issue
Speaker 1: a statement through the prosecutor's office, which read, in part, today,
Speaker 1: our justice system failed an innocent five year old boy.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, based off the overwhelming evidence, the ones
Speaker 1: responsible for Justin's death had the chance to face justice here,
Speaker 1: but instead chose to stay silent and face the final
Speaker 1: justice handed out by God for eternity. The truth is there,
Speaker 1: the justice is not. My fight for Justin will never stop.
Speaker 1: While This ruling puts the Kai bosh on any further
Speaker 1: plans for law enforcement to charge either Victor or Megan
Speaker 1: with Justin's murder. The arrest and legal wrangling may not
Speaker 1: have been a fruitless effort, though the case seemed strong
Speaker 1: at first, the cold case investigator and original investigator on
Speaker 1: the case admitted under questioning from defense attorney Kent that
Speaker 1: they had not found new evidence, but instead had developed
Speaker 1: a new theory based on old evidence, apparently because thirty
Speaker 1: five years had passed. Such a massive delay in charging
Speaker 1: them based on older evidence available at the time violated
Speaker 1: their constitutional rights, and Judge Young agreed with them. Another
Speaker 1: shot against the prosecution came when Kent played a recording
Speaker 1: of a forensic pathologist investigators had consulted with. The pathologist
Speaker 1: stated during that recording that he could not be sure
Speaker 1: the dog leash was used in Justin's murder. While shredding
Speaker 1: the prosecution's case rather quickly, Kent dropped a major bombshell,
Speaker 1: which was provided as evidence to his claim that original
Speaker 1: investigators and all who had worked the case since then
Speaker 1: were completely focused on the Turners and ignored all other possibilities.
Speaker 1: After the arrest in January, John Kent was contacted by
Speaker 1: Deirdre Enwright, a law professor at the University of Virginia,
Speaker 1: through the Virginia School of Law's Innocence Project. Enwright sent
Speaker 1: evidence to Kent which suggested a possible link between Justin's
Speaker 1: murder and a known serial killer who was in the
Speaker 1: Navy and stationed in Charleston in nineteen eighty nine during
Speaker 1: the period in which Justin was killed. In fact, the
Speaker 1: killer ship docked in Charleston the very day Justin disappeared.
Speaker 1: A Monk's Corner, where Justin lived, is less than thirty
Speaker 1: miles from Charleston. Kent stated before Judge Young that the
Speaker 1: serial killer, Richard Mark Evenance, was an extremely good suspect
Speaker 1: that law enforcement should have looked at previously. This statement
Speaker 1: was supported by the fact that in two thousand and seven,
Speaker 1: the FBI reached out to multiple law enforcement agencies asking
Speaker 1: them to investigate all unsolved abductions, sexual assaults, and or
Speaker 1: murders in cases they might feel could be linked to evidance.
Speaker 1: According to The Post and Courier, the Berkeley County Sheriff's
Speaker 1: Office did not investigate evidence or any potential links to
Speaker 1: Justin's murder. Born in Columbia, South Carolina, Evidence was raised
Speaker 1: in an abusive home, and following his nineteen eighty graduation
Speaker 1: from Irmo Heist School, he enlisted in the Navy, where
Speaker 1: he served for eight years as a sonar technician. Following
Speaker 1: naval service, Evidence took a job as a traveling salesman
Speaker 1: before returning to his home state in nineteen ninety nine.
Speaker 1: For the most part, Evidence was off the radar of
Speaker 1: law enforcement until Monday, June twenty fourth, two thousand and two,
Speaker 1: when he abducted fifteen year old Kara Robinson from a
Speaker 1: front lawn in Columbia. Robinson, who has a popular TikTok
Speaker 1: channel today where she has discussed the abduction, explained that
Speaker 1: she was outside in pajamas watering a friend's flowers when
Speaker 1: she spotted a Pontiac transam circling the neighborhood. The car
Speaker 1: pulled into a nearby driveway, and a man later identified
Speaker 1: as Evidence approached Robinson, pretending that he was selling pamphlets. However,
Speaker 1: as soon as he passed one of the pamphlets to Robinson,
Speaker 1: she felt the barrel of a gun press against her neck.
Speaker 1: Evidence forced Robinson back to his va and placed her
Speaker 1: inside of a large plastic container in the back seat.
Speaker 1: He drove off and later pulled over, restraining Robinson and
Speaker 1: placing a ball gag in her mouth. He brought her
Speaker 1: back to his apartment, where Robinson decided her best chance
Speaker 1: of survival was to play along with her abductor and
Speaker 1: to give him what he wanted, while also gathering as
Speaker 1: much information about him as she could. Over the course
Speaker 1: of the next night marrish eighteen hours, Robinson was assaulted
Speaker 1: multiple times. When Evidence later fell asleep, she made a
Speaker 1: break for it. Despite handcuffs on her wrists and restraints
Speaker 1: on her ankle, she managed to free herself, forcing her
Speaker 1: way through a barrier at the front door, and then
Speaker 1: she ran into the parking lot, where she cried out
Speaker 1: for help. A passing driver took her to the police,
Speaker 1: who managed to track evidence based on a large amount
Speaker 1: of information Robinson had remembered. By the time police arrived
Speaker 1: at the apartment, evidence was gone, but this was the
Speaker 1: beginning of a chase which would span more than five
Speaker 1: hundred miles. Inside the apartment, police found a locked foot
Speaker 1: locker with newspaper clippings about the unsolved murders of three
Speaker 1: girls Sophia Silver was murdered in nineteen ninety six, and
Speaker 1: sisters Kristen and Katie Lisk in ninety seven. All three
Speaker 1: had disappeared from Spotsylvania County, Virginia, more than five years
Speaker 1: before Robinson was abducted, and according to police, they were
Speaker 1: all abducted near their homes after school. Evidence was located
Speaker 1: in Florida, at which time a high speed pursuit began.
Speaker 1: His vehicle was disabled by spike strips, but he refused
Speaker 1: to get out. A police dog was released to force
Speaker 1: evidence from the vehicle, but the suspect instead turned a
Speaker 1: gun on himself and ended the pursuit and his own life.
Speaker 1: Prior to the chase, evidence had spoken to his sister,
Speaker 1: at which time it's alleged that he stated that he
Speaker 1: had committed quote more crimes than he could remember. Evidence
Speaker 1: obtained by police to link evidence to the three homicides
Speaker 1: included the newspaper clippings, hair and fingerprints found in a
Speaker 1: vehicle he abandoned in Columbia, and fibers found on the
Speaker 1: bodies that matched the furry handcuffs he had used to
Speaker 1: restrain Robinson. Professor Enwright had previously represented a man accused
Speaker 1: of a double homicide, and when those charges were dropped,
Speaker 1: she learned that evidence had been in the area around
Speaker 1: the time of the murders. She went on to found
Speaker 1: the Innocence Project at the University of Virginia. Now the
Speaker 1: director for the project for Reformed Inform, she and a
Speaker 1: team are working to identify unsolved cases which might be
Speaker 1: linked to the serial killer. According to Enright, they have
Speaker 1: found so many cases that could be linked that she
Speaker 1: described it as overwhelming. Her team is currently focused on
Speaker 1: seven cases, one of which is Justin turners On Lot,
Speaker 1: Sheriff of Richland County in South Carolina, doesn't believe there
Speaker 1: is any solid evidence to link evidence to Justin's case.
Speaker 1: Lot noted that evidence had been connected to one abduction
Speaker 1: and three murders, the victims of which were all female teenagers.
Speaker 1: Kevin Wheeler, a spokesman for the FBI Field office in Columbia,
Speaker 1: was asked if the profile they developed on evidence would
Speaker 1: include the possibility that he might sexually assault a murderer
Speaker 1: of five year old boy, but Wheeler declined to comment.
Speaker 1: Sheriff Lott was a little more outspoken, telling the Post
Speaker 1: and Courier quote, we have no indication whatsoever that he
Speaker 1: was attracted to boys. There are no similarities. The only
Speaker 1: kidnapped and raped girls end quote. For en Wright, that's
Speaker 1: part of the problem. It is unlikely that Evidence only
Speaker 1: committed the crimes that are known, and in Enwright's own words,
Speaker 1: all of the known cases being female teenagers might be
Speaker 1: a symptom of the problem. She explained. Quote. When they
Speaker 1: say he's only been linked to the murders of teenage girls,
Speaker 1: I would say that's because they've only looked at them.
Speaker 1: End quote. Enwright, in her analysis of Evidence, watched hours
Speaker 1: of pornographic material in his collection, and according to her,
Speaker 1: he was interested in sexual exploitation regardless of age or gender.
Speaker 1: Evidence mo somewhat fits the crime, with Enwright noting that
Speaker 1: the killer is linked to abductions, sexual assaults, and murders
Speaker 1: in which the victims were taken from their front yards
Speaker 1: in broad daylight. He was also known to use sex
Speaker 1: toys to assault his victims, which is somewhat consistent with
Speaker 1: Justin's murder, though the part that was used to assault
Speaker 1: him was a foreign object, not an actual sex toy.
Speaker 1: En Wright's analysis continues that he was known to have
Speaker 1: preferred rural areas, country settings, and he would drive up
Speaker 1: to fifty miles to abduct his victims, and Wright stated
Speaker 1: evidence also tried to frame others for his crime. The
Speaker 1: one question about evidence possible connection to Justin's murder comes
Speaker 1: down to a matter of time. It is unknown when
Speaker 1: his Navy ship docked in Charleston, but if it was
Speaker 1: early enough, he could have had plenty of time to
Speaker 1: have gone to Monk's Corner. Obviously, there is a lot
Speaker 1: of new information here, and it remains to be seen
Speaker 1: what law enforcement can or will do with it, whether
Speaker 1: evidence will be tied to Justin's murder or others, or
Speaker 1: if the case will remain focused on the Turners, who,
Speaker 1: regardless of what evidence does or does not exist, cannot
Speaker 1: be tried again. One can only hope that something will
Speaker 1: be found to provide some level of justice to Justin's family.
Speaker 1: Someone out there has to know something that could finally
Speaker 1: solve the horrible abduction, assault, and murder of that five
Speaker 1: year old boy. Fingers crossed. It's a story that only
Speaker 1: time can tell for now. Episode ninety seven, the abduction
Speaker 1: of Jessica Gutierrez On Thursday June fifth, nineteen eighty six,
Speaker 1: four year old Jessica Gutierrez went to bed in the
Speaker 1: room she shared with her sister at her mother's Lexington,
Speaker 1: South Carolina home. Sometime between eleven thirty pm and nine
Speaker 1: am the following morning, an unknown person cut the screen
Speaker 1: out from a living room window, entered the house, and
Speaker 1: moved into Jessica's bedroom. The unknown assailant then took the
Speaker 1: four year old and disappeared into the night. Jessica's sister, Rebecca,
Speaker 1: who was six at the time, witnessed the crime and
Speaker 1: famously later told police that Jessica had been taken by
Speaker 1: quote the man with the magic hat and the beard
Speaker 1: end quote. Years later, Rebecca told authorities that she witnessed
Speaker 1: the man taking Jessica without waking her, and that she
Speaker 1: was so frightened she couldn't scream or even move. She
Speaker 1: didn't tell anyone about what she had seen until the
Speaker 1: following morning. Unknown hours after the abduction, After ruling out
Speaker 1: several suspects, police were focused in on twenty seven year
Speaker 1: old Thomas Eric McDowell, a family friend who had previously
Speaker 1: been involved with Jessica's mother. Shortly after the abduction, McDowell
Speaker 1: stole a car and was arrested in North Carolina and
Speaker 1: charged with rape. Law enforcement noted that McDowell had left
Speaker 1: a fingerprint behind on the window of Jessica's bedroom. Her
Speaker 1: mother noted that she cleaned the windows every night, and
Speaker 1: McDowell's was the only print found. Sixteen years after the abduction.
Speaker 1: In January of twenty twenty two, McDowell was officially arrested
Speaker 1: in charged with murder, kidnapping, and first agree burglary. In
Speaker 1: this case, McDowell allegedly confessed his involvement in the crime
Speaker 1: to another prisoner, who quickly handed that information over to investigators.
Speaker 1: Case update. Almost two years have passed since sixty three
Speaker 1: year old Thomas McDowell was arrested at his North Carolina
Speaker 1: home and charged with the murder of four year old
Speaker 1: Jessica Gutierrez earlier this year. On Tuesday, February sixth, the
Speaker 1: trial finally began. Right from the start, there were issues
Speaker 1: with the trial that frustrated both the prosecutors and the defense.
Speaker 1: One key point of debate revolved around the planned testimony
Speaker 1: of Jessica's sister, Rebecca, the only witness to the a
Speaker 1: crime who was six years old when it happened. Rebecca
Speaker 1: testified at a pre trial evidentially hearing, where it was
Speaker 1: revealed that she had identified McDowell from a photo lineup
Speaker 1: more than twenty years after the crime. McDowell's attorneys public
Speaker 1: defenders fought hard to stop Rebecca from testifying about this identification.
Speaker 1: Rebecca stated during the hearing that she remembered the man's
Speaker 1: face and that she still sees it every night before
Speaker 1: she goes to bed. Not only did she remember the
Speaker 1: features of his face, but also the tall, wide brimmed
Speaker 1: hat he wore, which she, at age six, had described
Speaker 1: to police as a magic had. However, ultimately it was
Speaker 1: ruled that Rebecca could not testify that she had identified
Speaker 1: McDowell in the photo lineup, which had taken place in
Speaker 1: two thousand and seven. The photo of McDowell which she
Speaker 1: identified was taken eight years after the abduction. Judge Deborah
Speaker 1: McCaslin ruled that too much time had passed for the
Speaker 1: identification to be allowed at trial. Mccaslyn pointed out that
Speaker 1: during the initial statements in nineteen eighty six, Rebecca identified
Speaker 1: the suspect as a black male, while McDowell himself is white.
Speaker 1: Pressed about this on the stand, Rebecca noted that she
Speaker 1: could not remember making any such statement. She was six
Speaker 1: years old, and she was being questioned by a lot
Speaker 1: of different people over a series of days and weeks,
Speaker 1: so she couldn't be certain. While the defense was glad
Speaker 1: to have won out in the end, with Rebecca not
Speaker 1: being able to talk about the identification, the prosecution would
Speaker 1: gain ground with their own arguments before the court, Judge
Speaker 1: mccaslyn ruled that McDowell's defense would not be allowed to
Speaker 1: present an alternate theory casting suspicion on an ex boyfriend
Speaker 1: of Jessica's mother, who she had broken up with shortly
Speaker 1: before the disappearance. The man had been a suspect, but
Speaker 1: he had been cleared when police identified a fingerprint found
Speaker 1: at the scene as belonging to Thomas mcdowlan. It was
Speaker 1: this print, in part, which prompted the arrest. Mccaslyn ruled
Speaker 1: that there was no evidence linking the ex boyfriend to
Speaker 1: the crime, and that while the defense could argue that
Speaker 1: someone else committed this crime, they could not implicate anyone
Speaker 1: by name. McDowell had previously dated Jessica's mother, and not
Speaker 1: long after the child's disappearance, he stole a car and
Speaker 1: drove to North Carolina, where he sexually assaulted a woman.
Speaker 1: He later served a decade in prison for that crime.
Speaker 1: From nineteen eighty seven to nineteen ninety seven. While being
Speaker 1: held in a Pope County jail, McDowell allegedly spoke to
Speaker 1: inmate Michael Fowler and told him the horrifying story of
Speaker 1: how he abducted and murdered Jessica. According to Fowler, McDowell
Speaker 1: told him that he took Jessica, sexually assaulted her, and
Speaker 1: then killed and dismembered her body with a machete. I
Speaker 1: won't go into more detail than that. While the trial
Speaker 1: was highly combative, it was also a short one. On Thursday,
Speaker 1: February eighth, McDowell was found guilty of murder, kidnapping, and
Speaker 1: burglary in connection with Jessica's abduction and murder. The jury
Speaker 1: deliberated for less than two hours before reaching this decision.
Speaker 1: Not long after the verdict was in, Judge mccaslyn handed
Speaker 1: McDowell two life sentences, one for the murder, one for
Speaker 1: the kidnapping. A sentence on the burglary will come at
Speaker 1: a later date. While this insures the man who abducted
Speaker 1: and killed Jessica will never spend another day outside of prison.
Speaker 1: It's difficult to feel joy about the ending into such
Speaker 1: a terrible and horrible crime. What ending truly is there? Well,
Speaker 1: that depends on how you define closure, since Jessica's remains
Speaker 1: have never been found. Speaking about the verdict and the
Speaker 1: years of work put into this case, South Carolina Attorney
Speaker 1: General Alan Wilson explained at a press conference saying, quote,
Speaker 1: after far too long, we finally have justice for Jessica
Speaker 1: Gutierrez and her family. While we can't bring Jessica back,
Speaker 1: the person responsible for her murder will be held accountable
Speaker 1: and spend the rest of his life behind bars. Today's
Speaker 1: verdict would not have happened without the hard work of
Speaker 1: the dedicated men and women in the Attorney General's Office,
Speaker 1: the Lexington County Sheriff's Department, and the FBI. We hope
Speaker 1: Jessica's loved ones can rest a little easier tonight. Episode
Speaker 1: eighty nine, The Vanishing of Branson Perry. Wednesday, April eleventh,
Speaker 1: two thousand and one, Skidmore, Missouri, Twenty year old Branson
Speaker 1: Perry was reportedly last seen at his father's home, then
Speaker 1: located in the three hundred block of West Oak Street
Speaker 1: at approximately three pm. Branson's father was in the hospital
Speaker 1: at the time but set to return home that day,
Speaker 1: so Branson was working hard to make sure the house
Speaker 1: was clean and presentable. While he was inside, some other
Speaker 1: folks were outside working on his father's car, which had
Speaker 1: a broken alternator. According to the official story, Branson stepped
Speaker 1: out from his father's home to return a pair of
Speaker 1: jumper cables to a shed out back. It should have
Speaker 1: taken no more than a few minutes, but more than
Speaker 1: twenty three years later, Branson has never been seen again.
Speaker 1: The family reported that it was extremely out of character
Speaker 1: for Branson to go off without telling anyone, and considering
Speaker 1: he was awaiting his father's return, it didn't make a
Speaker 1: whole lot of sense that he would just have left
Speaker 1: in the first place. It was later reported he'd left
Speaker 1: behind important personal items such as his wallet, making a
Speaker 1: runaway situation even more unlikely. As time went on, investigators
Speaker 1: began shifting away from a runaway possibility to what they
Speaker 1: believed was more likely a homicide. Branson had friends and
Speaker 1: associated with people known to be involved in the drug
Speaker 1: trade at the time, and there were even reports that
Speaker 1: he might have been seen alive after he is thought
Speaker 1: to have disappeared. Those sightings placed the twenty year old
Speaker 1: at a known drug house just a few miles north
Speaker 1: of town. What exactly happened and who was involved remains
Speaker 1: a mystery, as does the location of Branson's body. Case update.
Speaker 1: In May of twenty twenty four, the Notaway County Sheriff's
Speaker 1: office told local media that they had called an assistance
Speaker 1: from the FBI in regard to Branson's disappearance, more than
Speaker 1: twenty three years after the twenty year old was last
Speaker 1: seen alive. Captain Austin Hahn informed Fox four News that
Speaker 1: they received a new tip in this case and they
Speaker 1: were hoping that the federal agency would be able to
Speaker 1: utilize their access to advanced procedures and technologies to assist
Speaker 1: in running that lead down. Captain Han explained, saying, quote,
Speaker 1: we feel like it's a good tip, so we want
Speaker 1: to invest in it. The FBI has a specific resource
Speaker 1: to provide. They have specialized resources to provide that we
Speaker 1: do not end quote. While the specifics of the tip
Speaker 1: were not revealed at the time, Captain Han did reveal
Speaker 1: to reporters that the nature of the tip includes a
Speaker 1: well located equipment, an unincorporated community six miles north of Skidmore.
Speaker 1: According to Han, this was not the first tip they
Speaker 1: received from the community, nor the first one which had
Speaker 1: them focusing in on an area equipment. Retired police officer
Speaker 1: Michael Kerrz reported that two individuals were questioned thoroughly about
Speaker 1: this case back in two thousand and nine. Both of
Speaker 1: those men pointed out particular locations at which they alleged
Speaker 1: Branson's body it could be found. According to Han, though
Speaker 1: these locations were investigated by law enforcement and digs were conducted,
Speaker 1: they did not find Branson's body, but they did find
Speaker 1: evidence that something at some point had been buried there.
Speaker 1: Hahn explained to quote, law enforcement agency has dug up
Speaker 1: a plot of land and didn't find Perry's remains, but
Speaker 1: they did indicate that the earth was disturbed there. They
Speaker 1: did think that probably something was there before and they
Speaker 1: could not find it at that time. End quote. Han
Speaker 1: would not confirm what exactly they hoped to find with
Speaker 1: this new search effort based upon the tip they had received. However,
Speaker 1: the investigator was quick to note that with so much
Speaker 1: time having passed, their best chance of solving the case
Speaker 1: would be with the assistance of the local community, but
Speaker 1: it is still believed that there are people who either
Speaker 1: know what happened to Perry, who was responsible, or where
Speaker 1: his remains may have been concealed. According to former investigator Kurz,
Speaker 1: the case has drastically changed since the early days. He explained, quote,
Speaker 1: they're looking at this case now as not a missing
Speaker 1: person anymore. They're looking at it as a homicide. Branson
Speaker 1: was a very well liked kid. He liked every everybody.
Speaker 1: Everybody liked him. He liked to lift weights, enjoyed the outdoors.
Speaker 1: I think it would mean a whole lot to the
Speaker 1: community if there was a resolution to this one end quote.
Speaker 1: On the evening of Tuesday, May fourteenth, local law enforcement
Speaker 1: officials cordoned off and began making preparations for a dig
Speaker 1: at an unspecified location, equipment notably not the same area
Speaker 1: which had previously been searched. A specialized team of FBI
Speaker 1: agents was scheduled to arrive on Monday, the twentieth, but
Speaker 1: did not appear equipment until two days later, on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: the twenty second. Law enforcement was assisted by Nodaway County
Speaker 1: Road and Bridge crews, who provided an operated excavation equipment
Speaker 1: at the site. Not much is known about the specific
Speaker 1: target of the search, nor the tip which led law
Speaker 1: enforcement to that location, but the case still being an
Speaker 1: open investigation, Captain Hahn was limited in what he was
Speaker 1: willing to share. According to investigators, their search of the
Speaker 1: targeted air lasted for a little more than a week,
Speaker 1: but was concluded by late afternoon on Wednesday, the twenty second,
Speaker 1: and it does not appear that anything major was found.
Speaker 1: Captain Hans spoke to the media following the conclusion of
Speaker 1: the dig and said, in part quote, the investigation portion
Speaker 1: of this never really stops for us. We are still
Speaker 1: going to take every single tip in. We're going to
Speaker 1: follow up on every single tip that's provided, and if
Speaker 1: we believe that the tip is credible, we're going to
Speaker 1: pour resources into following up end quote. One month later,
Speaker 1: in June of twenty twenty four, law enforcement noted that
Speaker 1: the new tip in search appeared to have revitalized their
Speaker 1: efforts and they were once again receiving information from the community.
Speaker 1: According to former investigator Steve Whittington, the case's first lead investigator,
Speaker 1: they didn't initially think foul play was involved. What blue
Speaker 1: Whittington's mind was not so much the absence of evidence,
Speaker 1: but the utter silence most of the people they interviewed
Speaker 1: appeared to be. Whittington explained, saying, quote, we just went
Speaker 1: talking to people and just looking around, put out alerts
Speaker 1: and what have you, put out a missing person thing
Speaker 1: on him, and we never got any response at all
Speaker 1: back from that end quote. Inside of the first two weeks,
Speaker 1: detectives began to believe something strange had happened, that Branson
Speaker 1: had likely been the target of foul play, and that
Speaker 1: people around him the last day he was seen probably
Speaker 1: had some idea, if not specific details, about the how
Speaker 1: and why of it all. At the time of the disappearance,
Speaker 1: two men had been outside of the house working on
Speaker 1: Branson's father's car. Whittington revealed one of these men, Bill Dragou,
Speaker 1: passed away in twenty twenty one, had been questioned multiple
Speaker 1: times because it was believed he had information he wouldn't reveal.
Speaker 1: Whittington commented, quote, I always felt like Bill knew something
Speaker 1: about it, but he would never talk or anything end quote.
Speaker 1: According to Whittington, they conducted multiple searches and digs everything
Speaker 1: from a septic tank in Holt County, another area north
Speaker 1: of Skidmore, a location in quipment, and multiple wells throughout
Speaker 1: the area. Eventually, the investigator led detectives to the drug scene,
Speaker 1: with them believing that the twenty year old's disappearance was
Speaker 1: somehow connected. Interestingly, they had one particular witness who contradicted
Speaker 1: all the rest. While everyone reported that Branson was last
Speaker 1: seen at his father's home in Skidmore, this other witness
Speaker 1: placed him as last alive at a home just east
Speaker 1: of Quitman. Whittington was quite blunt when speaking to the
Speaker 1: Maryville Forum, saying, quote, I'm sure this is all tied
Speaker 1: to drugs end quote. Jenna Crawford is one of the
Speaker 1: last people to see Branson alive and was present at
Speaker 1: his father's home the day he disappeared. Statements she has
Speaker 1: made have caused some confusion for investigators. There is some
Speaker 1: debate about which pieces of information came directly from her
Speaker 1: personal experiences and which pieces are second or even third hand.
Speaker 1: Author Dianne Fanning wrote a book about the murder of
Speaker 1: Branson's cousin, Bobby Joe Stinnett. The book entitled Baby Be Mine.
Speaker 1: The Shocking True Story of a woman who murdered a
Speaker 1: pregnant mother to steal her child includes discussion of both
Speaker 1: Branson and his friend Jenna Crawford. In the book, Fanning
Speaker 1: claims that Crawford, when speaking to police, stated that both
Speaker 1: she and Branson used marijuana and amphetamines. This coalesces with
Speaker 1: multiple tips that have pointed investigators towards that house east
Speaker 1: of Quitman, which was known as the place to score
Speaker 1: drugs for a period of time surrounding the disappearance. According
Speaker 1: to Darren White, a Notaway County sheriff's deputy in two
Speaker 1: thousand and one who was later sheriff from nine to seventeen,
Speaker 1: said that he was on duty the day the house
Speaker 1: in question burned to the ground, Though he could not
Speaker 1: be one hundred percent certain, he told the media that
Speaker 1: he received tips and information about Branson being seen at
Speaker 1: that house after he was thought to have disappeared. Interestingly,
Speaker 1: White claimed that while Branson was missing at the time
Speaker 1: the house burned down, he had not yet officially been
Speaker 1: reported to law enforcement. As such, White believes the fire
Speaker 1: took place between the Wednesday Branson was last seen and
Speaker 1: the Monday when he was reported missing. He does not
Speaker 1: believe that the fire was a matter of coincidence. Or happenstance,
Speaker 1: noting that the blaze was likely done to cover up evidence.
Speaker 1: He explained saying, quote, the best theory is that house
Speaker 1: is where he was actually murdered. That's the best theory
Speaker 1: that he was murdered in that house, and that ultimately,
Speaker 1: of course, when the house was destroyed by fire, any
Speaker 1: possible evidence that might have been there would have been
Speaker 1: destroyed in the fire end quote. This belief is supported
Speaker 1: by Notaway County Sheriff Randy Strong, who told the Saint
Speaker 1: Joseph News Press in twenty nineteen that Branson was last
Speaker 1: seen alive on Wednesday, April eleventh, two thousand and one,
Speaker 1: at a residence near Quitman, which later burned down. White
Speaker 1: went on to stay that he had received a lot
Speaker 1: of information over the years, but the one big hurdle
Speaker 1: they could not overcome was the absence of Branson's body.
Speaker 1: According to White, without the body, there was never enough
Speaker 1: evidence to issue a warrant to arrest anyone. In twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two, law enforcement noted that they did have a
Speaker 1: suspect in the case, but they didn't yet possess enough
Speaker 1: evidence to charge them or even name them. Unfortunately, it
Speaker 1: seems those who have the answers continue to keep them secret,
Speaker 1: protecting a killer, and depriving a family of the justice
Speaker 1: and truth they so desperately deserve. Sadly, as more time passes,
Speaker 1: members of Branson's family have passed away without finding out
Speaker 1: what happened. His father, Bob, died in two thousand and four,
Speaker 1: and his mother Becky in twenty eleven. His grandmother Joanne
Speaker 1: also passed away in twenty fifteen. Darren White commented on
Speaker 1: how their losses have both frustrated investigators and taken away
Speaker 1: major voices of support for the continued pursuit of justice.
Speaker 1: He explained, quote, the sad part is that his mother
Speaker 1: and grandmother have both passed, so I guess in some
Speaker 1: way they're now with him, and so they do have
Speaker 1: their final answer for people that are of faith. But
Speaker 1: while they were both living, they really devoted a lot
Speaker 1: of time to trying to get some answers and some resolution,
Speaker 1: but it just never happened. End quote. More than one
Speaker 1: hundred interviews have been conducted, and vastly more tips have
Speaker 1: been received and tracked down. Sadly, the truth still remains obscured,
Speaker 1: and Branson's remains have never been found. The case, while
Speaker 1: cold does warm up periodically. It is believed that there
Speaker 1: are people out there who have the ability to assist
Speaker 1: law enforcement in bringing Brandson home and finding his killer.
Speaker 1: If only they would be willing to share what they know,
Speaker 1: maybe the family could put an end to the suffering
Speaker 1: of unknowing and find some way to come to terms
Speaker 1: with their loss. This remains to be seen. Episode twenty three.
Speaker 1: The murder of Faith Hedgepeth. On Friday, September seventh, twenty twelve,
Speaker 1: nineteen year old Faith Hedgepath was found murdered in her
Speaker 1: Chapel Hill apartment. She had been beaten with a blunt
Speaker 1: object later determined to be an empty bottle, and it
Speaker 1: was apparent that she had been sexually assaulted. Evidence at
Speaker 1: the time pointed in several different directions, and though DNA
Speaker 1: found at the scene could be used to eliminate potential suspects,
Speaker 1: it could not at the time identify who it belonged to.
Speaker 1: The DNA recovered, though did match other samples found elsewhere
Speaker 1: in the apartment. Three months later, in January of twenty thirteen,
Speaker 1: the FBI announced that the DNA belonged to an unidentified
Speaker 1: male that combined with other details of the crime had
Speaker 1: aided them in developing a profile of the suspect. According
Speaker 1: to the FEDS, they believed the killer had likely lived
Speaker 1: near Faith in the past, had expressed an interest in her,
Speaker 1: and his behaviors had likely changed since the crime. A
Speaker 1: year after the murder, in September of twenty thirteen, the
Speaker 1: State Bureau of Investigation was asked to assist in the investigation,
Speaker 1: and apparently they redid many of the interviews previously done
Speaker 1: by Chapel Hill authorities. Law enforcement had most of the
Speaker 1: information around the case sealed to protect the investigation, but
Speaker 1: those files would be ordered unsealed in July of twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1: In addition to those files which had redacted names, both
Speaker 1: the autopsy report and original nine to one one call
Speaker 1: were also released, both of which caused a great deal
Speaker 1: of rumor and speculation surrounding the murder and who may
Speaker 1: have been involved. However, this did not appear to advance
Speaker 1: the investigation nor assist in the identification of a suspect.
Speaker 1: In September of twenty sixteen, Parabon Nanolabs released an image
Speaker 1: of the suspect based upon analysis of the phenotype in
Speaker 1: his DNA profile. The program predicts the person's eye color,
Speaker 1: hair color, skin color, freckling, face shape, and ancestry. According
Speaker 1: to their assessment, the suspect was likely very strongly Native
Speaker 1: American and European mixed ancestry, or possibly Latino. Most of
Speaker 1: the markers pointed towards Mexican, Colombian, and Iberian. Parabon determined
Speaker 1: that the suspect had an eighty percent chance of having
Speaker 1: olive colored skin with very few, if any freckles, and
Speaker 1: black hair. Five years later, on Thursday September sixteenth, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one, the Chapel Hill Police Department arrested Miguel Enrique
Speaker 1: Salguero Aliveries for the first degree murder of Faith Hedgepeth.
Speaker 1: Though Salguero Aliveris was not originally a suspect, DNA linked
Speaker 1: him to the crime scene following his own arrest for
Speaker 1: drunk driving in Wake County. That was the last we
Speaker 1: heard of Olivera's and the case until recently case update.
Speaker 1: New charges have been filed against the man arrested in
Speaker 1: connection with the murder of Faith hedgepet Miguel Enrique Salguero
Speaker 1: Olivaras was charged with murder on Thursday September sixteenth, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one, nine years after Faith was killed in a
Speaker 1: Chapel Hill apartment. Salguero Oliveris was originally linked to the
Speaker 1: case through DNA when genealogical experts linked DNA founded the
Speaker 1: scene of the crime to members of his family. For
Speaker 1: the most part, law enforcement has been quiet for the
Speaker 1: last three years and little has developed, leading many to
Speaker 1: wonder what the status of the case is. On Monday,
Speaker 1: October twenty first, the indictment against Salguero Oliveris was amended
Speaker 1: to now include first degree burglary, rape, and sexual assault
Speaker 1: on top of homicide. According to supporting legal documents, law
Speaker 1: enforcement believes that the suspect broke into the apartment and
Speaker 1: attacked Faith. Though Salguero Alaveris remains held without bond in
Speaker 1: a Durham County jail all these years later, a trial
Speaker 1: date has still not been set. Sarah Willitts, spokesperson for
Speaker 1: the Durham County District Attorney's Office, when asked about a trial,
Speaker 1: noted that things as complicated as murder can take a
Speaker 1: long time. She explained to the news and observers, saying, quote,
Speaker 1: it may feel like little is happening during the years
Speaker 1: a homicide case as worked its way through the court process,
Speaker 1: but the DA's office is diligently processing evidence, fulfilling our
Speaker 1: constitutional obligations, and working to reach an appropriate outcome end.
Speaker 1: In addition to delays on the prosecution side, there have
Speaker 1: also been moves made by the defense which extended the timeline.
Speaker 1: For example, Salguero Alaverez filed and changed his lawyer, moving
Speaker 1: away from the public defender and onto private attorney Chris Barnes,
Speaker 1: along with three others. According to a filing made in
Speaker 1: June of this year, it appears that evidence in the
Speaker 1: case will include investigative files, a State Bureau of Investigation,
Speaker 1: chemical analysis, incriminating statements made by Salguero Alaverez, and evidence
Speaker 1: gathered during multiple searches. In addition to the DNA linking
Speaker 1: the suspect to the crime, his palm print was found
Speaker 1: on a bottle of wine located in Faith's apartment. While
Speaker 1: not the most major of updates, a lot of people
Speaker 1: have been wor wondering why this case is moving so slowly,
Speaker 1: and this should add a little context. There's a lot
Speaker 1: going on on both sides of the fence, but it
Speaker 1: appears the prosecution is making sure all of their ducks
Speaker 1: are in a row and everything is to move forward
Speaker 1: as planned. They aren't taking any chances, and hopefully sooner
Speaker 1: than later, we will learn the truth of what happened
Speaker 1: that night, and Faith's family will finally see justice done
Speaker 1: to the monster who stole away their brilliant, loving and
Speaker 1: beautiful daughter. The next court date in this case is
Speaker 1: set to take place in mid January of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: So there you have it. Six case updates, several of
Speaker 1: which either closed or are leading towards closure. The rom
Speaker 1: Or family have gotten answers they never imagined, and Jessica
Speaker 1: Gutierrez's family can find some comfort in knowing her killers
Speaker 1: off the streets and will spend the rest of his
Speaker 1: life behind bars. Hopefully that's the direction the Faith Hedgepeth
Speaker 1: case is heading. Also still no answers out there for
Speaker 1: the murder of Justin Turner and the assumed murders of
Speaker 1: Branson Perry an Asia Degree. However, the ball keeps on
Speaker 1: rolling and the darkness cannot conceal the light forever. Justice
Speaker 1: is coming and could be sped along if only those
Speaker 1: who know something would choose to share it as many
Speaker 1: of you know, putting Trace Evidence together takes a lot
Speaker 1: of hard work, research, and more than anything time. Without
Speaker 1: support from amazing listeners, this podcast would be impossible, and
Speaker 1: that's why I'd like to take a moment to thank
Speaker 1: our amazing Patreon producers Andrew Guarino, Anne m Bertram, Christine Greco,
Speaker 1: Crystal jay Derthy, Denise Dingsdale, Dianni Dyson, Jennifer Winkler, Justin Snyder,
Speaker 1: Caar Morland, k Why leslie b Lisa Hopson, Nick Mohar, Shers,
Speaker 1: Roberta Jansen, Stacey Finnegan, and Tom Radford. Thank you all
Speaker 1: so much for your continued support and for making Trace
Speaker 1: Evidence possible. If you'd like to learn about supporting the show,
Speaker 1: please visit patreon dot com, slash trace Evidence or visit
Speaker 1: trace dash evidence dot com. All episodes are available completely
Speaker 1: ad free on Patreon. This concludes this final update episode
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty four, and what a year it's been.
Speaker 1: DNA and genetic genealogy continue to lead the way, while
Speaker 1: underwater search keep finding evidence that law enforcement missed decades ago.
Speaker 1: Who knows what promised twenty twenty five might provide for
Speaker 1: even the most obscure of Unsolved Cases. As a final reminder,
Speaker 1: if you'd like to submit a question for the year
Speaker 1: end Q and A, there are links in the show notes.
Speaker 1: You can also tag the show on social media with
Speaker 1: your questions or email me directly at Trace evidencepod at
Speaker 1: gmail dot com. Thank you all so much for listening,
Speaker 1: and I hope you'll join me next time for another
Speaker 1: unsolved case on the next episode of Trace Evidence.
Speaker 2: In and Among in a