WEBVTT - S05 Episode 16: Built On Shifting Sands (Pt.1 of 2)

0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:14.320
<v Speaker 1>Park ranger Bud Connor, looked out across the gently lapping

0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:18.520
<v Speaker 1>waters toward the distant towers of Chicago, silhouetted under the

0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:21.920
<v Speaker 1>slowly reddening sky as it took a moment to enjoy

0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:26.799
<v Speaker 1>the last of the day's sun. Saturday, July two, nineteen

0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:29.560
<v Speaker 1>sixty six, had been a hot one at the Indiana

0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:33.280
<v Speaker 1>Junes State Park, where Bud had been busy keeping watch

0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:36.640
<v Speaker 1>over the thousands of day trippers there to enjoy the

0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:41.520
<v Speaker 1>July fourth weekend. The park, located on the southern shore

0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:45.040
<v Speaker 1>of Lake Michigan, was comprised of over two thousand acres

0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:48.159
<v Speaker 1>of sand dunes and rugged grassland, as well as a

0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:52.280
<v Speaker 1>fifteen mile stretch of sandy beach, and on days like these,

0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:55.600
<v Speaker 1>it was just about the most popular place in the state.

0:00:57.280 --> 0:00:59.680
<v Speaker 1>Letting out a side of relief at having made it

0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:03.320
<v Speaker 1>through without incident, Bud turned and headed back to the

0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:06.760
<v Speaker 1>ranger's hut when he was approached by a teenage couple

0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:10.880
<v Speaker 1>making their way to the car park. It probably wasn't

0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:13.720
<v Speaker 1>anything to be concerned about, they said, but they thought

0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:16.440
<v Speaker 1>he might like to know about the blanket and a

0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:19.800
<v Speaker 1>number of personal items that appeared to have been left behind.

0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:24.160
<v Speaker 1>On the beach. The items belonged to three young women

0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:27.360
<v Speaker 1>who the couple had seen arriving around ten am that

0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:31.720
<v Speaker 1>morning before settling down under several poplar trees close to

0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:35.080
<v Speaker 1>where they were sitting. The couple were sure they'd seen

0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:38.880
<v Speaker 1>the women boarding a boat on the lake sometime around twelve,

0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:43.760
<v Speaker 1>but hadn't seen them since. Bud gave a rise smile

0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:46.160
<v Speaker 1>at the thought of all the young women he'd seen

0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:49.840
<v Speaker 1>getting hit on by groups of guys trying to various

0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:53.800
<v Speaker 1>degrees of success to get them onto their boats. Chance

0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.400
<v Speaker 1>its were, he thought, if these women had boarded one

0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:00.400
<v Speaker 1>under similar circumstances, they'd be back soon enough to collect

0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:04.400
<v Speaker 1>their things. Bud thanked the couple and waved them on

0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:07.280
<v Speaker 1>their way, then headed over to pick up the items,

0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:10.079
<v Speaker 1>figuring the least he could do was make sure they

0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:14.840
<v Speaker 1>didn't get stolen. What Bud Connor couldn't possibly have known

0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:18.280
<v Speaker 1>then was that he just walked straight into one of

0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:23.799
<v Speaker 1>the greatest mysteries the American Midwest would ever know. You're

0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:35.680
<v Speaker 1>listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard McClean smith. With most

0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:38.840
<v Speaker 1>people having left the beach by then, it wasn't hard

0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:42.120
<v Speaker 1>to spot the abandoned blanket laid out about a hundred

0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.720
<v Speaker 1>yards from the shoreline under the poplars, just as the

0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:50.760
<v Speaker 1>teenagers had said. Moments later, Bud was stood over it

0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:54.760
<v Speaker 1>with a look of deep confusion on his face. There

0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.800
<v Speaker 1>were the usual things you might expect to get left behind,

0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:02.680
<v Speaker 1>like the yellow beach rope, sunglasses and suntan oil, or

0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:06.440
<v Speaker 1>the nearly empty packet of cigarettes, but there was other

0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:12.560
<v Speaker 1>stuff too that gave him pause for thought, like the wallets, transistor, radio,

0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:17.440
<v Speaker 1>and even a set of car keys. Bud looked about

0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:20.920
<v Speaker 1>the beach at the remaining couples and families in various

0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:24.160
<v Speaker 1>stages of packing up and heading home, then down to

0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:28.720
<v Speaker 1>the shoreline and out across the water, where earlier there'd

0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:31.880
<v Speaker 1>been hundreds of bathers and boats bobbing up and down

0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:36.000
<v Speaker 1>on the lake, only a few diehards remained splashing about

0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:40.280
<v Speaker 1>in the shallows. He looked down again at the items,

0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.480
<v Speaker 1>then bundled them all into the middle of the blanket

0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:47.720
<v Speaker 1>and pulled it up from the sand. A few minutes later,

0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:52.240
<v Speaker 1>Bud arrived at the office of park Superintendent William's Vettich.

0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:56.480
<v Speaker 1>After explaining what he'd found, the pair placed the items

0:03:56.480 --> 0:04:00.280
<v Speaker 1>in lost property for safe keeping, then closed up and

0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:11.160
<v Speaker 1>headed home. It was two days later, early in the

0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:14.600
<v Speaker 1>morning of Monday, July fourth, when the phone rang in

0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:19.680
<v Speaker 1>the ranger's hut. Spetich picked it up. It was a

0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:24.800
<v Speaker 1>man named Harold Blow in obvious distress, calling from Westchester,

0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:29.120
<v Speaker 1>a suburb of Chicago located about fifty miles west of

0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:34.160
<v Speaker 1>the park. His nineteen year old daughter, Patty, had left

0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:37.320
<v Speaker 1>with friends for the beach early on Saturday morning, but

0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:41.440
<v Speaker 1>hadn't been seen since, and neither had her two friends.

0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:46.080
<v Speaker 1>Though he knew it was unlikely Spetitch would remember them personally,

0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:49.359
<v Speaker 1>Blow proceeded to give a description of the young women

0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:54.679
<v Speaker 1>just in case. Patty or pat was about five foot

0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:59.000
<v Speaker 1>six with brown hair and dark brown eyes. He believed

0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.800
<v Speaker 1>she'd taken a bright yellow bikini to wear at the

0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:07.080
<v Speaker 1>beach that day. Anne Miller, five ft two with brown

0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:10.360
<v Speaker 1>hair and blue eyes, was twenty one and would most

0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:13.560
<v Speaker 1>likely have been wearing a blue two piece swimsuit with

0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:20.120
<v Speaker 1>a red belt. And Lastly, Renee Brule, also nineteen, was

0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:23.839
<v Speaker 1>about five ft nine with brown hair and hazel brown eyes.

0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:29.120
<v Speaker 1>Her swimsuit, according to her husband Jeffrey, was brown and

0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:33.240
<v Speaker 1>had green flowers and gold leaves printed on it. The

0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:37.320
<v Speaker 1>three would have driven there in Anne's nineteen fifty five buick.

0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.640
<v Speaker 1>Sveetich leant back on his chair as he wrote it

0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:44.719
<v Speaker 1>all down and peered through to the storeroom at the

0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.720
<v Speaker 1>box of items that Bud Connor had brought in a

0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:52.160
<v Speaker 1>few nights ago. After reassuring Harold that his daughter would

0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:55.800
<v Speaker 1>soon turn up, Spetich hung up the call, then grabbed

0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:59.640
<v Speaker 1>the box from the storeroom. Pulling off the lid, he

0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:03.600
<v Speaker 1>took out the various items, including the bright yellow robe

0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:08.320
<v Speaker 1>just like the bikini that Harold had described. Moving it

0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:11.720
<v Speaker 1>to the side, he spotted the car keys, noticing now

0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:14.680
<v Speaker 1>the key ring attached to them in the shape of

0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:18.680
<v Speaker 1>a miniature Illinois license plate to tread two six five

0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:23.320
<v Speaker 1>four eighty seven. With it being so early, it didn't

0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:26.520
<v Speaker 1>take him long to spot the corresponding vehicle, parked up

0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:29.040
<v Speaker 1>on its own at the far side of the car park.

0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:33.000
<v Speaker 1>When he saw it was a buick, his stomach dropped.

0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:38.400
<v Speaker 1>A few calls later and Chicago police confirmed it the

0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:47.600
<v Speaker 1>car was Anne Miller's. Is there something interfering with your

0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:51.240
<v Speaker 1>happiness or preventing you from achieving your goals? Better? Help

0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:53.479
<v Speaker 1>will assess your needs and match you with your own

0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:57.320
<v Speaker 1>licensed professional therapist. Sign up today and start communicating in

0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:01.200
<v Speaker 1>less than forty eight hours. You'll get time and thoughtful responses.

0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:04.120
<v Speaker 1>Plus you can schedule weekly video or phone sessions so

0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:07.120
<v Speaker 1>you won't ever have to sit in an uncomfortable waiting room.

0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:09.680
<v Speaker 1>You can also log into your account any time to

0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:12.680
<v Speaker 1>send a message to your counselor. Better Help is not

0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:16.440
<v Speaker 1>a crisis line nor self help. It is professional counseling

0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:20.280
<v Speaker 1>done securely online, with a broad range of expertise available,

0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:24.520
<v Speaker 1>and with better helps commitment to facilitating great therapeutic matches,

0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:27.960
<v Speaker 1>they make it especially easy and free to change counselors

0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:30.840
<v Speaker 1>to help you find the right fit. This podcast is

0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:34.160
<v Speaker 1>sponsored by better Help and Unexplained. Listeners get ten percent

0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:38.360
<v Speaker 1>off their first month at betterhelp dot com. Forward slash unexplained.

0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:43.760
<v Speaker 1>That's better help dot com. Forward slash unexplained. Join the

0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:46.600
<v Speaker 1>over one million people taking charge of their mental health

0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.560
<v Speaker 1>with the help of an experienced professional. Better Help wants

0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:58.080
<v Speaker 1>you to start living a happier life today. With the

0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:01.840
<v Speaker 1>Indiana State Police taking over what was now an official

0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:06.040
<v Speaker 1>missing person's case, members of the women's families were invited

0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:10.200
<v Speaker 1>to inspect the items left behind the beach. All were

0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:15.920
<v Speaker 1>confirmed as having belonged to pat Anne and Renee. It

0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:19.760
<v Speaker 1>was shortly afternoon when thirty nine year old Sergeant Edward Burke,

0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:23.000
<v Speaker 1>widely regarded as one of the best detectives in the state,

0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.600
<v Speaker 1>arrived at the park and swiftly set about trying to

0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:31.680
<v Speaker 1>establish a course of events. Having spoken to Bud Connor,

0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:34.959
<v Speaker 1>Burke was keen to learn more about the possible boat

0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:37.920
<v Speaker 1>the women were said to have boarded, according to the

0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:42.680
<v Speaker 1>young couple who first alerted to the items on the beach. However,

0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:45.760
<v Speaker 1>since Bud thought nothing of it at the time, he'd

0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:49.480
<v Speaker 1>neglected to take their details down, leaving Burke with only

0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:52.959
<v Speaker 1>the vague information that the boat had headed west after

0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:56.880
<v Speaker 1>the women boarded it. With close to six hundred boats

0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:00.160
<v Speaker 1>estimated to have been on the lake between Chicago the

0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:03.840
<v Speaker 1>Indiana June State Park that day, locating the one in

0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:09.319
<v Speaker 1>question would be almost impossible. Finding more witnesses who might

0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:12.839
<v Speaker 1>also have seen the women would prove equally difficult, since

0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:15.400
<v Speaker 1>close to nine thousand people were thought to have been

0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:19.200
<v Speaker 1>at the park around the same time. With little else

0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.640
<v Speaker 1>to go on the next day, Burke initiated a full

0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:25.640
<v Speaker 1>search of the two thousand, one hundred and eighty acre

0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:29.240
<v Speaker 1>reserve and shoreline, enlisting the help of the Coast Guard,

0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:32.400
<v Speaker 1>as well as forty two soldiers from a nearby missile

0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:39.439
<v Speaker 1>base and ten mounted officers from the Porter County Sheriff's Department. Meanwhile,

0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:43.200
<v Speaker 1>police issued a statement to the press giving descriptions of

0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:46.120
<v Speaker 1>the women and asking for members of the public to

0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:49.439
<v Speaker 1>come forward with any information they might have on them

0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:55.880
<v Speaker 1>or the mystery boat. Later that afternoon, witnesses from South

0:09:55.920 --> 0:10:00.360
<v Speaker 1>Holland in Illinois and Indianapolis called in to say they

0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:04.440
<v Speaker 1>too had seen the women getting into a boat that day.

0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:06.960
<v Speaker 1>They were certain it was the women in question on

0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:11.000
<v Speaker 1>account of the unmissible bright yellow bikini worn by pat Blow.

0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.520
<v Speaker 1>Perhaps more importantly, they also remembered the man on the

0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:19.440
<v Speaker 1>boat who'd invited them onto it, describing him as being

0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:23.360
<v Speaker 1>well tanned and in his early twenties, with wavy raven

0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:28.600
<v Speaker 1>colored hair and wearing a windbreaker jacket. As for the boat, however,

0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:32.760
<v Speaker 1>they were less sure, remembering only that it hadn't been

0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:37.320
<v Speaker 1>especially big, perhaps only fourteen to sixteen feet long, and

0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:47.720
<v Speaker 1>was possibly white and blue in color. By the end

0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:51.439
<v Speaker 1>of the first day, scouring the parks, dunes and meadows,

0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:55.319
<v Speaker 1>sifting through every blade of marram grass, the search teams

0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:59.280
<v Speaker 1>found no sign of the missing women. Suspecting they may

0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:03.079
<v Speaker 1>have drowned, Detective Burke ordered a crew of beech buggies

0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:06.600
<v Speaker 1>to continue patrolling the shore line in case their bodies

0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:10.240
<v Speaker 1>washed up in the night, but by first light the

0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:16.280
<v Speaker 1>next morning nothing had come in. The search continued through Wednesday,

0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:19.920
<v Speaker 1>with an additional one hundred volunteers joining in to help,

0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:24.320
<v Speaker 1>but with no further clues on the women's whereabouts, Burke's

0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:27.400
<v Speaker 1>thoughts turned to a letter that had been found left

0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:31.800
<v Speaker 1>behind at the beach in Renee Brule's purse, dated two

0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:35.600
<v Speaker 1>weeks prior to her disappearance and clearly written in anguish,

0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:40.360
<v Speaker 1>It was addressed to her husband, Jeffrey. In it, Renee

0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:43.360
<v Speaker 1>accused her husband of being more interested in his friends

0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:47.640
<v Speaker 1>and hot rod cars than spending time with her. The

0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:51.080
<v Speaker 1>marriage was over its set, and she wanted a divorce.

0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:56.240
<v Speaker 1>When Burke brought the letter to Geoffrey's attention, he was stunned.

0:11:57.080 --> 0:11:59.400
<v Speaker 1>Though he wasn't so naive to think they hadn't been

0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:05.120
<v Speaker 1>having problem, he hadn't fully appreciated the depth of Renee's misery.

0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:08.800
<v Speaker 1>Renee's family insisted, however, that the fact she never sent

0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:11.760
<v Speaker 1>the letter was evidence that she hadn't been serious about

0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:14.720
<v Speaker 1>leaving Jeffrey, and had perhaps written it more out of

0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:19.240
<v Speaker 1>frustration than anything else. Then a call came into Burke

0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:23.800
<v Speaker 1>from the beach. The search team had found a pile

0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.640
<v Speaker 1>of debris that appeared to be pieces of a boat,

0:12:27.000 --> 0:12:30.120
<v Speaker 1>loosely matching the description of the one the women had

0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:33.880
<v Speaker 1>been seen getting into. It was found about three miles

0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.120
<v Speaker 1>to the west of where they'd been sitting, in the

0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:40.080
<v Speaker 1>shadow of the Bailey Generating Station, a large coal power

0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.679
<v Speaker 1>station that sat at the far end of the park.

0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:47.840
<v Speaker 1>The debris was comprised of twisted pieces of metal, oil

0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:51.439
<v Speaker 1>soaked wood, and large chunks of styrofoam thought to have

0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:55.280
<v Speaker 1>come from the back of boat seats. Oil and gasoline

0:12:55.320 --> 0:13:01.120
<v Speaker 1>canisters were also found nearby. Despite still no evidence of

0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:04.320
<v Speaker 1>the women being found, police began to wander if they'd

0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:07.920
<v Speaker 1>been involved in a boat crash, possibly with a water

0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:11.920
<v Speaker 1>intake crib, a structure designed to feed water into the

0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:15.200
<v Speaker 1>power station that was positioned in the lake close to

0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:20.520
<v Speaker 1>where the debris washed up, But detective Burke wasn't so sure.

0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:24.640
<v Speaker 1>Surely anything like that would have been seen by somebody,

0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:27.720
<v Speaker 1>and nor was there a record of any boat being

0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:31.360
<v Speaker 1>reported missing on that day, And by the third day,

0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:34.960
<v Speaker 1>even the boat lead was beginning to look a little dubious.

0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:45.680
<v Speaker 1>With more and more people contacting the police claiming to

0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:49.000
<v Speaker 1>have seen the women, They soon found themselves dealing with

0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:53.480
<v Speaker 1>a number of competing statements. Some had seen the women

0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:56.720
<v Speaker 1>get onto a boat with three men, others that there

0:13:56.720 --> 0:14:01.520
<v Speaker 1>were two men, or sometimes just one. The color and

0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:05.679
<v Speaker 1>size of the boat also varied significantly, with some saying

0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:08.840
<v Speaker 1>it was roughly fifteen feet long and others that it

0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:13.520
<v Speaker 1>was nearly thirty feet in length. On Thursday, July seventh,

0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:16.960
<v Speaker 1>scuba divers and air patrols were brought in to scan

0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:22.680
<v Speaker 1>the water for bodies and any more debris. Pat Blou's father, Harold,

0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:25.480
<v Speaker 1>who was a member of the Illinois Civil Air Patrol,

0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:31.800
<v Speaker 1>also joined the air search. In the meantime, eyewitness reports

0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:36.640
<v Speaker 1>continued to trickle in, with most being quickly discounted, while

0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:40.080
<v Speaker 1>others offered faint glimmers of hope, only to be quickly

0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:44.520
<v Speaker 1>dashed when they were followed up on. When a rumor

0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.480
<v Speaker 1>spread to the press that three bodies had been dragged

0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:50.440
<v Speaker 1>from the lake. Detective Burke was forced to issue a

0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:54.640
<v Speaker 1>statement denying it, while also clarifying there was no concrete

0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:58.640
<v Speaker 1>evidence linking the boat debris to the missing women, something

0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:05.280
<v Speaker 1>heat himself increasingly wary of. Then later that afternoon, a

0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:09.280
<v Speaker 1>report came into the Indiana State Police from South Haven,

0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:13.680
<v Speaker 1>a lakeside town in Michigan located about eighty miles east

0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:18.720
<v Speaker 1>of Indiana Dunes. It came from police officers who reported

0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:23.160
<v Speaker 1>seeing three women wearing swimsuits and no shoes, asking for

0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:27.200
<v Speaker 1>directions to Saginaw, a town close to Lake Huron, one

0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:30.560
<v Speaker 1>hundred and sixty miles away. The women said they were

0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:35.640
<v Speaker 1>traveling from Chicago. It seemed unlikely it could be them,

0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:39.600
<v Speaker 1>thought Burke, but it did make him wonder. All this

0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:42.960
<v Speaker 1>time he'd been acting on the assumption that the women

0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:47.240
<v Speaker 1>had spontaneously boarded a boat for fun. But what if

0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:51.160
<v Speaker 1>something else was going on? It was time he looked

0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:54.360
<v Speaker 1>a little closer into the lives of the three women.

0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:04.960
<v Speaker 1>Although Patricia Blou worked as a secretary for the utility

0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:10.840
<v Speaker 1>company Commonwealth Edison, her real passion was horses. Having ridden

0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:14.920
<v Speaker 1>throughout her childhood, Pat's parents eventually clubbed together to buy

0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:17.320
<v Speaker 1>her a horse of her own, which she kept in

0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:21.760
<v Speaker 1>Illinois's oak Brook Polo Club stables, where Anne Miller was

0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:27.120
<v Speaker 1>employed to exercise the horses. Over time, the pair had

0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.120
<v Speaker 1>got to know each other there and became firm friends.

0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:34.120
<v Speaker 1>Renee Brule was a friend of Pats from their time

0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:37.920
<v Speaker 1>together at Proviso West High School in Maywood, and had

0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:41.680
<v Speaker 1>recently completed a course in medical technology in the Loop,

0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:47.240
<v Speaker 1>the main central business district of Chicago. Renee loved horses two,

0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:50.960
<v Speaker 1>and the three friends often rode together at Tri Color

0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:58.520
<v Speaker 1>Stables in Palatine, Illinois. But there was more too. All

0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:03.000
<v Speaker 1>three women socialized regularly together at a bar in Hodgkins,

0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:05.800
<v Speaker 1>about a twenty minute drive from where they lived, where

0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:09.720
<v Speaker 1>it is believed Anne and Pat each struck up relationships

0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:13.840
<v Speaker 1>with married men. After speaking to a number of the

0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:18.040
<v Speaker 1>women's friends, the police was surprised to discover that Anne

0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:21.520
<v Speaker 1>Miller was three months pregnant at the time of her disappearance,

0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:26.280
<v Speaker 1>while Pat Blow may well have been two. Miller had

0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:28.760
<v Speaker 1>even told friends that she was planning to enter a

0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:33.919
<v Speaker 1>home for unwed mothers. Something else of interest was a

0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:38.240
<v Speaker 1>letter found by Harold Blow in his daughter's bedroom, written

0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:42.680
<v Speaker 1>by Pat to her ex boyfriend, John Paul Jones. Jones

0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:45.679
<v Speaker 1>was six years older than Pat and had recently moved

0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:50.800
<v Speaker 1>to California. Like Renee's letter to her husband, this one

0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:55.160
<v Speaker 1>hadn't been sent either, and talked mostly of Pat's unhappiness

0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:59.560
<v Speaker 1>that Jones had left without even telling her. Jones, who

0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:02.800
<v Speaker 1>was ride by Detective Burke as an ex convict and

0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:07.720
<v Speaker 1>rodeo cowboy who presumably met Pat through horses, denied all

0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:13.400
<v Speaker 1>knowledge of Pat's disappearance after being interviewed by the FBI. However,

0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:17.879
<v Speaker 1>when added all together along with Brene's marital troubles, it

0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:22.160
<v Speaker 1>painted a complex portrait of three troubled young women, each

0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:32.760
<v Speaker 1>with a reason to potentially want to disappear. Warby Parker

0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:35.600
<v Speaker 1>was founded with a rebellious spirit and a lofty goal

0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:39.680
<v Speaker 1>to create bootique quality eyewear at a revolutionary price point.

0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:45.160
<v Speaker 1>Glasses start at ninety five dollars, including prescription lenses, sunglasses, progressives,

0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:49.040
<v Speaker 1>and blue light lenses are also available. Warby Parkers committed

0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:54.399
<v Speaker 1>to providing exceptional vision care online and in stores, offering eyeglasses, sunglasses,

0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:57.920
<v Speaker 1>eye exams, and contact lenses. Just answer a few quick

0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:01.199
<v Speaker 1>questions online and they'll suggest some great looking glasses that

0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:04.119
<v Speaker 1>are totally personalized to fit your face and style. The

0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:07.199
<v Speaker 1>best thing of all is Warby Parker's home try on system,

0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:09.760
<v Speaker 1>allowing you to order up to five pairs of glasses

0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:12.560
<v Speaker 1>for free to try on at home, either for yourself

0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:14.760
<v Speaker 1>or to get the advice of friends and loved ones

0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:19.760
<v Speaker 1>before purchasing. Try Warby Parker's free home tryon program. Order

0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:22.320
<v Speaker 1>five pairs of glasses to try at home for free

0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:25.800
<v Speaker 1>for five days, with no obligation to buy ships free

0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:29.280
<v Speaker 1>and includes a prepaid return shipping label. Try five pairs

0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.560
<v Speaker 1>of glasses at home for free at warby Parker dot com.

0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:38.600
<v Speaker 1>Forward slash unexplained. That's w a r by Parker dot com.

0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:46.840
<v Speaker 1>Forward slash unexplained. It was three am in the morning

0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:49.560
<v Speaker 1>of July ninth when the phone rang at the Blouse

0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:54.840
<v Speaker 1>residence in Westchester. Pat's parents, who'd barely slept a wink

0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:58.800
<v Speaker 1>since her disappearance, ran blearily to the hall to pick

0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:04.080
<v Speaker 1>it up. Hello, said Pat's mother into the receiver, as

0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:08.960
<v Speaker 1>Harold waited anxiously by her side, but the caller didn't reply,

0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:14.359
<v Speaker 1>letting the silence hang between them. Unable to bear it

0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:19.200
<v Speaker 1>any longer. Pat's mother burst into tears, telling whoever it

0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:22.159
<v Speaker 1>was on the line, if it was Pat, that she

0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:24.960
<v Speaker 1>had nothing to worry about, and that she should come

0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:28.720
<v Speaker 1>home as soon as she could. Then there was a click,

0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:33.320
<v Speaker 1>and the corps went dead. The following day, at a

0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:36.639
<v Speaker 1>complete loss what to do, Harold made an appeal in

0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:41.000
<v Speaker 1>the press to Peter Herkos, a self described clairvoyant from

0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:44.639
<v Speaker 1>the Netherlands. Harold had seen her Cos on the news

0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:48.120
<v Speaker 1>the night before, promoting an E. S. P card game

0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:54.360
<v Speaker 1>in Hollywood, but the plea was never answered. When Harold

0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:57.520
<v Speaker 1>had read his daughter's letter to her ex boyfriend, his

0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:00.920
<v Speaker 1>heart had broken at the anguish in her word, breaking

0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:03.360
<v Speaker 1>all the harder of the thought that he might never

0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:07.679
<v Speaker 1>get the chance to console her over it. Either way,

0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:11.199
<v Speaker 1>He just simply couldn't believe that she would deliberately disappear,

0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:14.960
<v Speaker 1>as some were beginning to suggest, not least of all

0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:18.280
<v Speaker 1>because of her horse, who she'd named Hank, who meant

0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:21.879
<v Speaker 1>more to her than anything else in the world. In

0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:26.119
<v Speaker 1>recent months, thanks to Pat's hard work and dedication, Hank

0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:31.480
<v Speaker 1>had developed into an impressive thoroughbred. Only days before her disappearance,

0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:34.879
<v Speaker 1>Hank had won a race in Winnipeg, Canada, and was

0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:39.080
<v Speaker 1>due to race again on July eleventh. As for any

0:21:39.119 --> 0:21:41.560
<v Speaker 1>suggestion that she might have drowned in the lake, he

0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:45.159
<v Speaker 1>thought that unlikely too, since his daughter was a strong

0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:49.880
<v Speaker 1>and experienced swimmer, easily capable of swimming over twenty miles.

0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:55.040
<v Speaker 1>The only logical explanation he believed was that for some

0:21:55.119 --> 0:22:00.320
<v Speaker 1>reason or other, the women had been abducted. On July tenth,

0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:04.000
<v Speaker 1>Harold and two colleagues from the Civil Air Patrol mounted

0:22:04.040 --> 0:22:07.719
<v Speaker 1>their own investigation of the lake and surrounding areas, flying

0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:12.320
<v Speaker 1>to every airport between DuPage County and Ludington, Michigan, asking

0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:16.640
<v Speaker 1>residents along the way if they'd seen anything. Back down

0:22:16.680 --> 0:22:20.880
<v Speaker 1>at Detective Burke's office, after six days of searching, they

0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:23.320
<v Speaker 1>had nothing to show for it, except for a few

0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:26.840
<v Speaker 1>pieces of possible boat debris and a handful of conflicting

0:22:26.880 --> 0:22:38.480
<v Speaker 1>witness statements. When finally they got a break, about a

0:22:38.560 --> 0:22:42.920
<v Speaker 1>week after pat Blow, Anne Miller, and Renee Brule were

0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:47.720
<v Speaker 1>declared missing, a man from Liganeer, Indiana, contacted the police

0:22:47.920 --> 0:22:53.000
<v Speaker 1>with some extraordinary information. As it happened, he'd been filming

0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:56.200
<v Speaker 1>at the beach the day the women disappeared. And had

0:22:56.240 --> 0:22:59.320
<v Speaker 1>just gone back to inspect the footage after hearing about

0:22:59.359 --> 0:23:04.160
<v Speaker 1>the case. Incredibly, he'd managed to capture the women, identified

0:23:04.200 --> 0:23:07.800
<v Speaker 1>clearly by their swimming costumes, the moment they boarded the

0:23:07.920 --> 0:23:12.280
<v Speaker 1>mystery boat. In the footage, the women could be seen

0:23:12.359 --> 0:23:15.439
<v Speaker 1>climbing on to what was in fact a sixteen to

0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:20.240
<v Speaker 1>eighteen foot trimaran with three holes, with Pat in her

0:23:20.320 --> 0:23:23.760
<v Speaker 1>yellow bikini seen taking a seat up front while the

0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:27.159
<v Speaker 1>other two sat at the back. The man on the

0:23:27.160 --> 0:23:31.080
<v Speaker 1>boat was also visible, looking just as the witnesses had described,

0:23:31.600 --> 0:23:36.600
<v Speaker 1>early twenties, with dark wavy hair. The footage was taken

0:23:36.640 --> 0:23:40.280
<v Speaker 1>early on in the day, yet many witnesses were adamant

0:23:40.320 --> 0:23:42.920
<v Speaker 1>that they'd seen the women back on the beach later

0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:47.000
<v Speaker 1>in the afternoon. There was also the fact that many witnesses,

0:23:47.320 --> 0:23:52.520
<v Speaker 1>including Robert Blatts, a lawyer from Gary, Indiana, also claimed

0:23:52.520 --> 0:23:55.200
<v Speaker 1>to have seen the women boarding a completely different looking

0:23:55.240 --> 0:23:59.680
<v Speaker 1>boat with three men on board. Blats described it as

0:23:59.720 --> 0:24:03.080
<v Speaker 1>being twenty six to twenty eight feet long and possibly

0:24:03.119 --> 0:24:06.520
<v Speaker 1>a Trojan cabin cruiser, with no name on its side

0:24:06.920 --> 0:24:11.040
<v Speaker 1>and a large radio antenna. It then occurred to the

0:24:11.080 --> 0:24:14.639
<v Speaker 1>police could it be that the women had in fact

0:24:14.760 --> 0:24:19.840
<v Speaker 1>boarded two boats that day. After checking the footage again,

0:24:20.359 --> 0:24:24.320
<v Speaker 1>a boat was spotted matching Blatz's description, and the police

0:24:24.600 --> 0:24:34.800
<v Speaker 1>immediately got to work tracing its owners. Now with solid

0:24:34.840 --> 0:24:37.600
<v Speaker 1>proof that the women had boarded a boat after all,

0:24:38.119 --> 0:24:41.199
<v Speaker 1>more statements were released to the press asking for the

0:24:41.240 --> 0:24:44.240
<v Speaker 1>men seen on the boats and the footage to come forward,

0:24:44.920 --> 0:24:47.200
<v Speaker 1>or for anyone else who might have seen them or

0:24:47.320 --> 0:24:51.560
<v Speaker 1>knew them to contact the police. Another search of the

0:24:51.600 --> 0:24:55.760
<v Speaker 1>coastline was made, with divers also instructed to check inside

0:24:55.760 --> 0:24:59.040
<v Speaker 1>the water intake crib in case the women had somehow

0:24:59.080 --> 0:25:03.400
<v Speaker 1>been sucked or placed into it. But nothing was found

0:25:04.000 --> 0:25:09.600
<v Speaker 1>and no one came forward, With Detective Burke becoming increasingly

0:25:09.640 --> 0:25:12.840
<v Speaker 1>convinced that, for whatever reason, the women would not be

0:25:12.920 --> 0:25:16.119
<v Speaker 1>found at the beach, the search of the park was

0:25:16.119 --> 0:25:23.840
<v Speaker 1>eventually called off. Then something else came to light. According

0:25:23.840 --> 0:25:27.080
<v Speaker 1>to a friend of Pat Blouse, the young woman had

0:25:27.119 --> 0:25:29.720
<v Speaker 1>been seen a few months back with a bruise on

0:25:29.760 --> 0:25:33.480
<v Speaker 1>her face. When asked where it had come from, she'd

0:25:33.480 --> 0:25:36.840
<v Speaker 1>replied vaguely that she'd got into trouble with some horse

0:25:36.960 --> 0:25:41.680
<v Speaker 1>racing people. Then another friend added that Pat had told

0:25:41.720 --> 0:25:44.520
<v Speaker 1>her secretly one day that she was just going to

0:25:44.600 --> 0:25:50.440
<v Speaker 1>leave and nobody would find her. This new information led

0:25:50.440 --> 0:25:54.439
<v Speaker 1>the investigators back to the girl's personal belongings and to

0:25:54.560 --> 0:25:57.760
<v Speaker 1>something in particular that had been found in Pat's purse,

0:25:58.680 --> 0:26:02.479
<v Speaker 1>her phone number belonging to a man named George Jane,

0:26:03.600 --> 0:26:08.400
<v Speaker 1>the owner of Tricolor Farm where pat An and Renee

0:26:08.480 --> 0:26:13.280
<v Speaker 1>rode horses together, had the answer to the women's whereabouts

0:26:13.720 --> 0:26:21.359
<v Speaker 1>been staring at them the whole time. You've been listening

0:26:21.359 --> 0:26:26.199
<v Speaker 1>to Part one of Unexplained, Season five, Episode sixteen, built

0:26:26.200 --> 0:26:29.840
<v Speaker 1>on Shifting Sands. Part two will be released next Friday,

0:26:30.320 --> 0:26:36.840
<v Speaker 1>May twenty first. If you enjoy Unexplained and would like

0:26:36.880 --> 0:26:39.760
<v Speaker 1>to help supporters, you can now do so via Patreon.

0:26:40.320 --> 0:26:43.280
<v Speaker 1>To receive access to add three episodes, just go to

0:26:43.359 --> 0:26:46.920
<v Speaker 1>patron dot com, forward slash Unexplained Pod to sign up,

0:26:47.600 --> 0:26:49.600
<v Speaker 1>or if you'd like to make a one time donation,

0:26:50.000 --> 0:26:53.840
<v Speaker 1>you can go to Unexplained podcast dot com forward Slash Support.

0:26:54.400 --> 0:26:59.240
<v Speaker 1>All donations, no matter how large or small, are greatly appreciated. Unexplained,

0:26:59.280 --> 0:27:02.560
<v Speaker 1>the book and audiobook, featuring ten stories that have never

0:27:02.600 --> 0:27:05.399
<v Speaker 1>before been covered on the show, is now available to

0:27:05.440 --> 0:27:09.359
<v Speaker 1>buy worldwide. You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble,

0:27:09.480 --> 0:27:14.680
<v Speaker 1>and Waterstones among other bookstores. All elements have Unexplained, including

0:27:14.720 --> 0:27:17.840
<v Speaker 1>the show's music, are produced by me Richard McClain smith.

0:27:18.240 --> 0:27:21.360
<v Speaker 1>Please subscribe and rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts,

0:27:21.600 --> 0:27:23.800
<v Speaker 1>and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts

0:27:23.880 --> 0:27:26.480
<v Speaker 1>or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show.

0:27:27.080 --> 0:27:29.199
<v Speaker 1>Perhaps you have an explanation of your own you'd like

0:27:29.240 --> 0:27:32.600
<v Speaker 1>to share. You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast

0:27:32.680 --> 0:27:37.520
<v Speaker 1>dot com or Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at

0:27:37.560 --> 0:27:41.359
<v Speaker 1>Facebook dot com. Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast