WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:10.519 When fifteen year old Annie casper Zak vanished from her 2 00:00:10.519 --> 00:00:13.720 home in Riverton, Utah, her parents hoped she had simply 3 00:00:13.800 --> 00:00:17.079 run away, but the next day a jogger discovered a 4 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:21.280 bloody scene by the Jordan River, and hours later Annie's 5 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:27.679 battered body surfaced upstream. What followed was a deeply flawed investigation, 6 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:33.679 derailed by lies, false suspects, and a mysterious boyfriend named 7 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:38.280 l J. This is the heartbreaking and twisted story of 8 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:41.280 a teenage girl search for love and how she was 9 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:47.039 silenced forever. My name's Ben, I'm. 10 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:51.000 Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked Ingram, a true crime podcast. 11 00:00:51.840 --> 00:01:19.640 The following material intended for your audience. Listen, my sleep 12 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:21.120 score isn't as good as it usually is. 13 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:25.799 Oh, mine actually is pretty good. It's okay. Sleep scores 14 00:01:25.799 --> 00:01:28.280 are annoying though, because you can wake up and be like, 15 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:29.879 oh my gosh, i'd such a good sleep, and then 16 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:31.799 look at your sleep score and shit, and you're like, oh, I. 17 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:34.319 Guess I didn't, And then you feel shitty about yourself 18 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:36.480 and you feel terrible because you looked at those numbers. 19 00:01:36.840 --> 00:01:39.000 This is from wearing like a what is it? I 20 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:40.640 guess it's a smart smart watch. Yeah. 21 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:44.239 Yeah, I mean I accurately feel like what my sleep 22 00:01:44.239 --> 00:01:47.079 score is depicting, Like I woke up feeling like that. 23 00:01:47.319 --> 00:01:50.159 I go to seventy three. It's still decent. But my 24 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:51.959 coffee is extra strong this morning, for sure. 25 00:01:51.959 --> 00:01:54.400 Oh, I actually beat your sleep score. But you got 26 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:55.920 up and I stayed in bed and fell back to 27 00:01:55.959 --> 00:01:56.879 sleep accidentally. 28 00:01:57.200 --> 00:01:59.920 Yeah, I was up at quarter to seven. You gotta 29 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:01.000 at eight thirty. 30 00:02:01.239 --> 00:02:05.319 No, it was not eight thirty. It was like right 31 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:05.879 before eight. 32 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:08.159 It was after eight, for sure. 33 00:02:08.199 --> 00:02:09.080 No, it was not. 34 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:09.479 No. 35 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:11.199 I am one hundred percent certain. 36 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:15.319 Nicole is clearly still groggy. She can't even remember the time. 37 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:18.759 I just like love sleeping. It's like my favorite thing 38 00:02:18.840 --> 00:02:19.080 to do. 39 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:22.000 It's good. Honestly, if you can sleep in, why not? 40 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:25.159 And also if you can join Patreon, why not? So 41 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:30.039 shout out to Doc Trancy, Laura Hopper, and Jacqueline Harris 42 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:32.520 who joined up on our Patreon and are supporting our 43 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:35.960 soul and great they're supporting us talking about our sleep 44 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:38.240 scores at the beginning of episodes, you. 45 00:02:38.199 --> 00:02:41.319 Know, and yeah, we keep recording in the mornings so 46 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:46.039 we don't have like a well beveraged open of sorts. 47 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:47.879 You know, but we still have beverages. Like I got 48 00:02:47.879 --> 00:02:51.199 my extra strong coffee this morning. Yeah, it's not that, 49 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:54.120 it's just you know, time of day. And trust me, 50 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:57.960 there's some mornings where a breakfast beer is warranted. 51 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:00.439 What makes it extra strong exactly? 52 00:03:01.319 --> 00:03:03.759 I put more coffee in it. I made it strong. 53 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:06.879 Oh okay, like more grounds in there. Yeah, okay, I see, yeah, 54 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:09.319 I see, okay. I'm not a coffee. 55 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:11.719 Drinker, so I'm just like, I wanted a strong coffee 56 00:03:11.719 --> 00:03:14.039 this morning, so I put like double the grounds. 57 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:16.159 Usually do shit. I feel like that make it taste 58 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:17.280 like poop. 59 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:21.479 It's definitely a lot more bitter. Okay, Yeah, it's still good. 60 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:25.719 Okay, Well, anyway, it sounds like you got a doozy, 61 00:03:25.879 --> 00:03:27.680 of course, Yeah for us. 62 00:03:27.560 --> 00:03:30.280 This morning, I do. And I think we are going 63 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:32.680 to go back to not quite so much of a 64 00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:34.400 doozy in the next episode. I got a little bit, 65 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:36.479 are you sure about that? I got a little bit 66 00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:38.680 of a fun one for next time. I was going 67 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:40.120 to do it this time, but then I came across 68 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:42.840 this case. I'm like, you know what, one more before 69 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:47.000 we get to the funny, goofy hilarious case that is 70 00:03:47.879 --> 00:03:49.080 the next. I don't want to give it away, so 71 00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:49.919 I'm not gonna say anymore. 72 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:52.159 More fun one on a Friday is kind of better. 73 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:55.879 Actually, yeah, it'll be a fuck it Friday is what 74 00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:58.000 I used to call it when I was working nine 75 00:03:58.000 --> 00:03:58.639 to five's. 76 00:03:58.840 --> 00:04:01.280 Oh okay, I forgot about that. 77 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:03.719 It's not just me. That's what me and coworkers used 78 00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:07.039 to call it the fuck it Friday because hey, the mentality. 79 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:10.639 Of just fuck it the weekends here, like exactly, all 80 00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:13.000 this shit will be there for you next week. 81 00:04:12.759 --> 00:04:16.399 Exactly exactly. That's Monday's problem. That's a Monday bend problem, 82 00:04:16.439 --> 00:04:17.560 sort of, Oh my gosh. 83 00:04:17.720 --> 00:04:20.360 Okay, but I had the worst Monday. I think it 84 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:22.720 was last week because I did that and then my 85 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:24.879 Monday was just bonkers. 86 00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:27.120 Yeah, sometimes you got to watch out for that because 87 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:31.439 you can wreck you Monday's. Yeah, it's got to be a. 88 00:04:31.399 --> 00:04:33.519 Balance, Yeah, yeah, it does. 89 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:37.240 Anyways, let's get to this case. You ready, I am 90 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:41.720 okay so Born on January tenth, nineteen ninety seven, and 91 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:46.000 Grace Casperzek, affectionately known as Annie, entered the world under 92 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:49.240 circumstances that would shape nearly every part of her life. 93 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:52.920 From the beginning she faced the kind of instability no 94 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:56.600 child should have to ever endure. Her biological home was 95 00:04:56.600 --> 00:04:59.319 filled with abuse and neglect, and by the time she 96 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:03.240 was just a tod child, Protective Services had intervened, removing 97 00:05:03.240 --> 00:05:06.600 her from the care of her birth parents. But instead 98 00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:10.040 of landing into a safe and stable home, Annie's journey 99 00:05:10.040 --> 00:05:13.439 through the foster system became a revolving door, a story 100 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:16.680 unfortunately all too familiar for many in the foster system. 101 00:05:17.879 --> 00:05:20.079 Over the span of just a few years, she was 102 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:24.720 placed with and returned by nine different foster families. 103 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:26.879 Oh no, she went. 104 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:30.839 Through nine different foster families before she even turned nine herself. 105 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:32.800 Oh that's heartbreaking. 106 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:36.240 Hey, So to understand who Annie was, you have to 107 00:05:36.279 --> 00:05:39.959 start there with that aching sense of impermanence, you know, 108 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:42.839 the kind of emotional whiplash that leaves a child feeling 109 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:47.680 basically just disposable. Right, So, at an age when most 110 00:05:47.720 --> 00:05:51.120 kids were learning their multiplication tables and getting bedtime stories, 111 00:05:51.160 --> 00:05:54.519 Annie was learning that love could be conditional and that 112 00:05:54.839 --> 00:05:56.720 home could disappear overnight. 113 00:05:57.240 --> 00:06:01.680 Oh that is so heartbreaking because that's just like, I 114 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:05.600 don't know, You're just your survival needs are not being met. 115 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:09.439 Yeah, basically, and yeah, you don't have what many of 116 00:06:09.519 --> 00:06:11.079 us take for granted every day. 117 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:13.120 Yeah. 118 00:06:13.160 --> 00:06:17.879 However, in two thousand and seven, everything changed for Annie. 119 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:23.120 That year, her life intersected with Veronica casper Zak, a 120 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:27.040 dedicated case manager with Utah's Division of Child and Family Services. 121 00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:31.439 Now Veronica wasn't just doing a job. She saw Annie 122 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:33.800 not as a case file, not as a broken child, 123 00:06:33.879 --> 00:06:38.160 but someone who really deserved a real shot at life. Now. 124 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:40.879 At the time, Veronica was pregnant and navigating her own 125 00:06:40.920 --> 00:06:43.839 family changes, but that didn't stop her from making a 126 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:49.240 life altering decision. She and her husband, Dennis Casperzak decided 127 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:50.439 to adopt Annie. 128 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:55.000 Oh yes, okay, this is hopefully good here. 129 00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:58.120 Yeah. It was a rare storybook moment in a life 130 00:06:58.439 --> 00:07:02.680 that honestly had known so few of these, like fairy 131 00:07:02.680 --> 00:07:06.240 tale type moments, and many people, unfortunately in these positions, 132 00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:10.639 don't get the lucky break that she finally got herself. Yeah, 133 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:14.639 but in this moment, Annie finally had a real family. 134 00:07:15.079 --> 00:07:17.879 She gained two younger brothers. In the process, she gained 135 00:07:17.879 --> 00:07:20.879 a structured home, and perhaps most importantly, people who didn't 136 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:21.639 give up on her. 137 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:22.680 Oh Man. 138 00:07:23.079 --> 00:07:25.759 Veronica would later describe how hard it was for Annie 139 00:07:25.800 --> 00:07:29.240 to trust anyone in the house at first, which it's 140 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:31.920 totally expected a response from a child who's you know, 141 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:35.360 lived through so much chaos. But over time that trust 142 00:07:35.399 --> 00:07:40.720 began to grow. Even when Veronica and Dennis eventually divorced, 143 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:43.120 they continued to co parent the children in a healthy, 144 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:47.680 cooperative way. Any sense of safety wasn't disrupted by more 145 00:07:47.720 --> 00:07:50.519 family drama. Instead, the love didn't leave just because the 146 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:54.600 marriage did, right, It still was there now. The Casperzak 147 00:07:54.680 --> 00:07:58.199 family eventually moved to Riverton, Utah, a quiet suburb of 148 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:02.000 Salt Lake City, and began to build something Annie had 149 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:06.600 never really had before, which was consistency as well. Veronica 150 00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:10.319 remarried a man named James Brader, who became a father 151 00:08:10.360 --> 00:08:13.000 figure to Annie. He later recalled that Annie had him 152 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:15.959 wrapped around his little finger and that she could convince 153 00:08:16.040 --> 00:08:18.199 him to do just about anything with a smile or 154 00:08:18.199 --> 00:08:19.040 a heart film place. 155 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:21.959 Oh man, okay, she deserves that. 156 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:24.839 Yeah. But at this same time, though, too, she now 157 00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:28.360 has you know, James as his father figure. She still 158 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:31.920 has Dennis as well. Okay, so Dennis would also you know, 159 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:34.840 get a significant other, So she now basically had two caring, 160 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:38.440 loving families. Okay, so this was a co parenting, co 161 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:43.000 existing relationship, and yeah, there was two loving homes that 162 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:46.159 she was a part of. For the first time, Annie 163 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:49.240 had what many kids would take granted for home, a 164 00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:52.159 support system, people who would fight for her, in a 165 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:58.240 future that seemed you know fully possible, but the top. 166 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:00.960 By the time she hit her teens, Annie was finally 167 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:05.120 living what most kids would consider just ordinary, and for 168 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:08.519 her though, it felt extraordinary. She had a room of 169 00:09:08.519 --> 00:09:11.320 her own, she had two little brothers who adored her, 170 00:09:11.879 --> 00:09:17.080 a mom who understood her trauma more than most probably could. Yep, Veronica, 171 00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:19.320 after all had walked beside her, not just as a parent, 172 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:22.360 but as someone who had once advocated for her when 173 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:26.200 she was just another case file, right when people looked 174 00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:28.360 at her and she was just another folder sitting on 175 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:34.559 a desk. So she had transformed from that to all this. 176 00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:39.559 It was quite the dramatic change. Now, life in Riverton, 177 00:09:39.639 --> 00:09:42.039 Utah bra Annie a sense of stability. She never knew 178 00:09:43.080 --> 00:09:46.480 that stability I already mentioned. She enrolled in some academy, 179 00:09:46.759 --> 00:09:49.039 a public charter school, where she tried to carve out 180 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:52.279 her place in the world. People knew her and described 181 00:09:52.279 --> 00:09:57.000 her as funny, passionate, warm hearted, and deeply emotional. She 182 00:09:57.120 --> 00:10:00.519 was a kind of girl who loved big. She cried 183 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:02.919 hard and wanted things in her life to have meaning, 184 00:10:03.480 --> 00:10:07.120 especially with relationships. But like many kids who grew up 185 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:10.240 in the shadow of early trauma, Annie sometimes carried her 186 00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:14.679 heart too openly, too urgently. She longed for connections, deep, 187 00:10:14.759 --> 00:10:18.080 unconditional ones, the kind that would fill the gaps by 188 00:10:18.120 --> 00:10:20.399 the years of abandonment that she had felt in her 189 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:25.200 early childhood. But it's not unusual for teens who've endured 190 00:10:25.240 --> 00:10:28.600 instability to seek grounding relationships to have their heart on 191 00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:32.320 their sleeve per se, and for Annie, that desire found 192 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:36.399 its outlet in romantic attachments. In twenty ten, she started 193 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:40.600 dating a classmate named Darwin Christopher Bagshawe, who went by Chris. 194 00:10:40.919 --> 00:10:43.679 They were both still so young, Annie just thirteen and 195 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:47.960 Chris just a year younger, but their relationship quickly became intense. 196 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:51.720 To Annie, Chris just wasn't another boyfriend or anything. He 197 00:10:51.799 --> 00:10:55.360 was a symbol of everything she wanted, love, permanence, and 198 00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:58.399 a future. Friends later recalled that she even wrote about 199 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:03.120 him constantly in their journals as their relationship progressed, describing 200 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:06.679 her hopes, dreams, and even planning their life together. One 201 00:11:06.840 --> 00:11:09.919 entry expressed that all she wanted for her birthday was 202 00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:12.480 to be pregnant and to start a family of her. 203 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:14.639 Own at thirteen. 204 00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:20.840 Well, probably not thirteen, because thirteen is when she met Chris, 205 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:23.799 when he was twelve, Okay, so it's probably closer to 206 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:27.039 about the age of fifteen when this entry was in 207 00:11:27.080 --> 00:11:27.600 the journal. 208 00:11:27.639 --> 00:11:29.840 They've been together like already a little while. 209 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:33.759 Yeah, so a therapist might say that Annie was trying 210 00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:36.559 to rewrite her own past, you know, to give a 211 00:11:36.679 --> 00:11:39.120 child the kind of love and security that she was 212 00:11:39.159 --> 00:11:41.799 denied when she was a kid. But now, at fifteen 213 00:11:41.879 --> 00:11:44.440 years old, that kind of emotional weight was hard to manage, 214 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:48.840 let alone communicate, and Chris, who by most accounts was 215 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:53.080 more reserved, didn't always know how to respond to Annie's intensities. 216 00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:57.279 Their relationship became an on again, off again, sometimes warm, 217 00:11:57.360 --> 00:12:01.879 sometimes tense sort of situation, but never really entirely over. 218 00:12:03.080 --> 00:12:06.159 It's also worth noting Annie wasn't reckless or out of control, 219 00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:09.360 though with these sort of ideals or ideologies, I should 220 00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:12.679 say she was thoughtful and sensitive. She dreamed of becoming 221 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:15.960 a therapist one day, even hoping to one day help 222 00:12:16.039 --> 00:12:17.840 kids who had lived through the pain like she did 223 00:12:17.879 --> 00:12:21.559 when she was younger. She had insights, maturity, and emotional 224 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:25.039 depths far beyond her years, but that doesn't always protect 225 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:29.679 you from making teenage mistakes. Her friends loved her for 226 00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:33.159 her loyalty, teachers remembered her as a bright student with 227 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:35.720 big potential, and to her family, she was still the 228 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:38.600 same little girl who had always been through more than 229 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:41.919 most adults could ever imagine, still trying to find her 230 00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:44.039 place in the world sort of situation right, a world 231 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:47.840 that never really felt quite safe. But in twenty twelve, 232 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:51.240 as the pressures of adolescence had piled up, something started 233 00:12:51.240 --> 00:12:55.120 to shift. Annie's romantic fixation on Chris deepened, and with 234 00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:57.639 it came the start of a fantasy, one that would 235 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:01.399 spiral far beyond anything she could get control, one that 236 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:03.480 we kind of already talked about a little bit in 237 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:07.519 the ideas of wanting to start a family room right, 238 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:12.799 her world revolved around two things, her love for Chris 239 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:16.559 and her dream of building that family. Now, to the 240 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:20.080 outside world, they were just another high school couple, Annie 241 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:22.919 fifteen and Chris fourteen, and they'd been together for about 242 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:26.399 a year and a half, practically a lifetime in teenage years. 243 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:29.919 But for Annie, the relationship wasn't just about romance. It 244 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.120 was about her anchor, a way to finally feel like 245 00:13:34.200 --> 00:13:40.279 she belonged somewhere. And then came the rumor. Somewhere along 246 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:43.399 the line, Annie herself started telling people that she was 247 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:47.679 in fact pregnant with Chris's child. The story, of course, 248 00:13:47.720 --> 00:13:51.720 spread fast around school like wildfire it would, and while 249 00:13:51.720 --> 00:13:56.919 teenage gossip is nothing new, this time it stuck. Friends, classmates, 250 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:00.240 and even Chris's own family hurt it all, and had 251 00:14:00.279 --> 00:14:03.039 even written about the pregnancy in her personal journals, including 252 00:14:03.080 --> 00:14:05.720 one entry on her birthday where she wished for a 253 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:08.360 happy boy or girl, healthy boy or girl. 254 00:14:08.519 --> 00:14:11.480 Yeah, it is interesting to me that she does want 255 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:14.159 to have a kid so early. 256 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:17.080 I mean, some people know what they want, and when 257 00:14:17.080 --> 00:14:19.480 you're someone who's been through that sort of turmoil when 258 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:22.600 you're young, you're forced to mature quite early, right. 259 00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:25.000 So she could be seeming a lot like you did 260 00:14:25.080 --> 00:14:28.399 mention that actually more mature, yeah, for her age. 261 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:30.279 While other people her age are probably you know, worried 262 00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:33.720 about soccer practice and the math test. She's so entranced 263 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:37.759 in family and values and you know, so that. 264 00:14:38.679 --> 00:14:41.039 And she's like, I found my man, Let's do this 265 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:43.039 the right thing exactly. 266 00:14:43.480 --> 00:14:46.799 So she had this longing for somewhere to belong and 267 00:14:46.840 --> 00:14:49.799 she learned when she was adopted that you know, a 268 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:54.960 family is actually a loving and it's a healthy situation 269 00:14:55.080 --> 00:14:58.279 when you actually have that. So she's now actively searching 270 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:01.120 for one of her own. Because I mean, even at 271 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:03.039 fifteen years old, whether you want a family or not, 272 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:06.200 you understand that. You know, that's what people typically do. 273 00:15:06.279 --> 00:15:08.399 They grow up, they have a family, they get a 274 00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:11.720 place together, or have kids. Right, that's the typical sort 275 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:15.000 of like North American at least, like everyone does it, 276 00:15:15.080 --> 00:15:20.000 why don't you. Yeah, So that picture is there and 277 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:21.679 she understands it and that's what she wants. 278 00:15:21.720 --> 00:15:23.320 Well, actually that was you, wasn't it. 279 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:25.919 I mean kind of yeah, yeah. 280 00:15:26.600 --> 00:15:28.879 Yeah. We met when I was fifteen and you were 281 00:15:29.399 --> 00:15:31.360 when we were I think we were about fifteen, yeah, 282 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:33.679 and Ben was like I didn't know this at the time, 283 00:15:33.720 --> 00:15:36.200 but you were like, I'm going to marry her? Did 284 00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:38.440 you think that right? Or something to that kind of. 285 00:15:38.840 --> 00:15:41.679 I mean in high school, I wasn't looking for a girlfriend. 286 00:15:41.720 --> 00:15:43.720 I was looking for a future with a person. 287 00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:45.720 Yeah, and I was just and then you asked me 288 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:47.080 to go on a date or whatever and I was 289 00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:50.120 like sure, yeah, and that's how it started. 290 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:52.759 Yeah, So there you go. So maybe you. 291 00:15:52.759 --> 00:15:54.440 Understand that more than most I'm. 292 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:58.000 Very much so emotionally mature, but every other way I'm 293 00:15:58.039 --> 00:16:01.879 definitely immature. So I can relate to her in that 294 00:16:02.039 --> 00:16:06.039 value for sure. Now, Chris later told police he didn't 295 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:09.320 believe the rumors of her being pregnant. He said Annie 296 00:16:09.399 --> 00:16:12.080 had told people that she was pregnant after allegedly sleeping 297 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:16.960 with a different boy, someone who is named l J. Now, 298 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:19.440 that name would come up over and over again through 299 00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:24.840 the situation, LJ, this older mystery guy. But the fact 300 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:28.039 was Annie was not pregnant. It was in fact a 301 00:16:28.120 --> 00:16:31.279 rumor that she started on her own. Her parents, in fact, 302 00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:34.480 took her to do a pregnancy test, which came back negative. 303 00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:37.240 They even helped her get onto birth control, not out 304 00:16:37.240 --> 00:16:39.519 of like a form of punishment or anything, but out 305 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:43.080 of love and the realism of the situation, the possibility 306 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:46.320 of her getting pregnant young. Right, the understood she's growing up. 307 00:16:46.360 --> 00:16:49.159 They didn't expect perfection, just you know, open and honesty. 308 00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:52.120 And here's a form of staying, you know, keeping yourself 309 00:16:52.120 --> 00:16:54.519 safe and maybe your future safe. And when the time 310 00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:57.039 is ready and you're ready, maybe you can wean off 311 00:16:57.080 --> 00:16:59.120 it and there you go, you have a kid. Then right, 312 00:16:59.240 --> 00:17:02.440 totally over the situation was That's where they were at. 313 00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:05.319 But this begs a question, why did Annie lie about 314 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:08.519 being pregnant in the first place. Now, this is where 315 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:12.319 the story gets harder and sadder. Annie didn't lie because 316 00:17:12.359 --> 00:17:15.559 she was trying to manipulate people or stirrup drama. She 317 00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:18.759 lied because deep down she wanted to be pregnant for real. 318 00:17:18.839 --> 00:17:21.720 That's what she wanted and that's what she dreamed of. 319 00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:26.519 Now Veronica, Annie's adoptive mother, later explained in a heartbreaking 320 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:30.319 term sort of situation, how she felt about it. She said, 321 00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:33.359 Annie wanted to create a family that she never had. 322 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:36.559 You know, a child, in her mind meant an unconditional love. 323 00:17:36.599 --> 00:17:39.680 At meant stability, It meant never being alone again. 324 00:17:40.519 --> 00:17:41.599 Oh jeez. 325 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:45.680 She had spent her early years in foster care, shuffled 326 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:48.559 from home to home, rarely feeling like she would was 327 00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:51.839 anyone's priority, and that kind of trauma leaves very deep 328 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:55.000 scars on an individual. Mm hmm, and sometimes it makes 329 00:17:55.079 --> 00:17:58.759 kids desperate for something permanent. Annie thought being a mom 330 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:01.440 would give her that. In her mind, a baby meant love, 331 00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:04.400 a baby meant control, a baby meant she mattered. 332 00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:06.839 Oh gosh, I mean yeah, that makes sense. 333 00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:10.640 Yeah. Now, the lie she told would spiral far beyond 334 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:14.799 her control, though. Chris, whether confused, angry, or scared, began 335 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:18.279 distancing himself from her. He told others that she'd cheated, 336 00:18:18.599 --> 00:18:20.759 that she made up the pregnancy to trap him, and 337 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:23.640 that this LJ, whoever he was, was the real father 338 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:26.440 if there was a pregnancy, and all of it, though, 339 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:30.480 was hearsay with no proof. To Annie, the love she 340 00:18:30.599 --> 00:18:33.160 had for Chris, it was still very much so real. 341 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:35.480 She still wanted to be with him, and she still 342 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:37.960 believed in some way that they could run away together 343 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:41.759 and build a new life, and that dream became so big, 344 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:44.960 so urgent, that she left her house in the middle 345 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.880 of the night one night, Saturday, March tenth, twenty twelve. 346 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:53.359 It started like any other day in the Kasperzac household. 347 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:58.359 Veronica and her husband, James Bratton, had plans to go 348 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:02.359 out for the evening, go have and Annie, now fifteen 349 00:19:02.440 --> 00:19:05.960 years old, stayed home to babysit her two younger younger brothers. 350 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:09.359 It wasn't an unusual situation, just a normal Saturday night 351 00:19:09.400 --> 00:19:13.079 in Riverton, Utah, really, But behind the quiet domestic routine, 352 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:17.279 something was brewing. Earlier that day, Annie had been texting 353 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:20.640 and calling her boyfriend Chris. She had this idea in 354 00:19:20.680 --> 00:19:23.359 her mind that they were going to run away together, 355 00:19:23.960 --> 00:19:27.759 maybe California, maybe somewhere else far away, who knows, Somewhere 356 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:30.960 they could start fresh, away from the judgment and pressure 357 00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:33.240 that had been building ever since she started telling people 358 00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:37.119 that she was pregnant. At around seven forty five pm, 359 00:19:37.480 --> 00:19:40.599 Veronica and James left for dinner. Before they walked out 360 00:19:40.599 --> 00:19:43.680 the door, Annie had changed her clothes into jeans and 361 00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:48.039 a T shirt that stood out to Veronica, but unfortunately 362 00:19:48.119 --> 00:19:51.640 only in hindsight. Annie usually dressed down when she was 363 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:53.559 staying in like we many of us, do, you know, 364 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:57.680 put on some shorts or PJ pants, sweats, comfy clothes, right, yeah, 365 00:19:57.720 --> 00:20:00.200 so why change into something you'd wear out if you 366 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:04.279 weren't going anywhere at all? Now? The couple returned home 367 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:08.039 at around nine PM. James went to help get the 368 00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:10.759 boys ready for bed, while Veronica walked down the hallway 369 00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:14.039 towards Annie's room. When she got to the door, he 370 00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:18.039 was left open and inside the lights were off, but 371 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:21.799 in the bedroom there was no Annie. She was gone. 372 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:25.960 This is so sad because she finally has this like 373 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:28.559 home that's just perfect for her. I feel like and 374 00:20:29.720 --> 00:20:33.319 shit's about to go down now. 375 00:20:33.319 --> 00:20:36.319 At first, Veronica thought maybe Annie had just stepped outside 376 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:40.400 for a minute, but upon further investigation, her phone was 377 00:20:40.440 --> 00:20:43.720 missing and many of her things were missing too, And 378 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:46.880 then they found the note on her bed. Oh no, 379 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:52.440 it was short and rather haunting quote. My only way 380 00:20:52.440 --> 00:20:55.359 out is to run away. Please don't try to look 381 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:58.720 for me. I don't want to be found. Oh jeez, 382 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:03.400 customach sank. This wasn't just a rebellion. Annie had been 383 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:08.680 emotionally unstable lately. Let's put it, I mean, not necessarily unstable. 384 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:10.519 She's just been emotional. Let's really put it that way. 385 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:13.839 She'd been emotional lately. She's been emotional. Sure, but it 386 00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:17.640 felt too final, this sort of situation too serious, so 387 00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:21.079 they of course called police right away m h now. 388 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:24.359 Officers arrived and began treating case as a runaway situation. 389 00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:27.880 Annie's family and friends were contacted, hoping someone might know 390 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:32.160 where she'd gone. Veronica also called Chris Bagshawe, Annie's boyfriend 391 00:21:32.759 --> 00:21:36.680 and someone she believed might have answers. Right, yeah, now, 392 00:21:36.759 --> 00:21:39.640 Chris didn't hesitate. He said he didn't know where Annie 393 00:21:39.720 --> 00:21:44.720 had gone, but he did offer one unexpected detail that 394 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:47.119 she planned to run away with someone named. 395 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:50.480 LJ Okay, I thought that she would plan to run 396 00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:51.359 away with Chris. 397 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:54.839 Well, according to Chris, LJ was this seventeen year old boy, 398 00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:58.920 someone who Annie had allegedly been seeing behind his back. Okay, 399 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:01.920 so Chris said ljd snuck into Annie's house months earlier, 400 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:04.240 and that she lied about this pregnancy to cover up 401 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:07.640