WEBVTT - Episode 5: The Searchers 0:00:15.316 --> 0:00:22.756 Pushkin just a quick heads up before we start. This 0:00:22.796 --> 0:00:28.356 episode contains a brief reference to suicide. Previously on Deep Cover, 0:00:29.836 --> 0:00:32.996 he talked about the potential for being a Russian spy 0:00:33.796 --> 0:00:37.956 going to various universities under cover. It had so many 0:00:37.996 --> 0:00:41.756 interesting elements. The more people that are looking for your suspect, 0:00:41.916 --> 0:00:45.276 the better chance you have of finding them. I remember 0:00:45.316 --> 0:00:49.916 seeing my picture and it's saying Esther Reid, and I 0:00:49.996 --> 0:00:55.316 was like, oh shit, like literally, oh shit, this isn't 0:00:55.356 --> 0:01:02.436 going to go away. By the end of two thousand 0:01:02.516 --> 0:01:05.636 and seven, Esther Reid had been on the run for 0:01:05.716 --> 0:01:09.316 almost a year and a half. During that time, she 0:01:09.356 --> 0:01:12.316 was being chased by a number of people, including the 0:01:12.356 --> 0:01:16.156 Secret Service, the police down in South Carolina, and a 0:01:16.156 --> 0:01:20.156 private investigator with a TV crew, and so far all 0:01:20.196 --> 0:01:23.836 of them had pretty much struck out, and this left 0:01:23.836 --> 0:01:26.756 the federal prosecute around the case, a guy named Walt 0:01:26.796 --> 0:01:31.916 Wilkins feeling rather well frustrated. I mean, we were chasing 0:01:31.916 --> 0:01:34.676 her around the country, and you know, we would look 0:01:34.676 --> 0:01:36.196 at each other and say, how how are we not 0:01:36.356 --> 0:01:41.356 finding this young girl who stole some identities? But good grief, guys, 0:01:41.356 --> 0:01:42.996 we're the federal government here. We gotta be able to 0:01:43.036 --> 0:01:46.916 do that. By this point, this young girl was now 0:01:46.956 --> 0:01:50.076 twenty nine by the way, and elusive as she was, 0:01:50.516 --> 0:01:53.676 Walt Wilkins still felt confident that she could be found. 0:01:54.076 --> 0:01:57.116 When you have the federal government looking for you, you 0:01:57.236 --> 0:01:59.716 make a mistake somewhere along the way, you make just 0:01:59.956 --> 0:02:02.076 enough mistakes where they're going to be able to find you. 0:02:02.596 --> 0:02:06.476 What the authorities really needed was a bounty hunter. Remember 0:02:06.516 --> 0:02:09.796 Boba Fett from Star Wars Badass too, with the green 0:02:09.836 --> 0:02:13.756 body armor and the cool jetpack. That's what the FEDS needed. 0:02:14.236 --> 0:02:17.076 And there actually is an agency that you call in 0:02:17.156 --> 0:02:22.076 situations like this, the United States Marshals Service. They specialize 0:02:22.076 --> 0:02:26.556 in tracking down fugitives. So that's who the FEDS called in, 0:02:27.036 --> 0:02:29.836 and the US Marshall assigned to the case was a 0:02:29.876 --> 0:02:33.596 guy named John Bridge, Boba fed as it were. And look, 0:02:33.676 --> 0:02:35.516 there are a lot of John's in this story, so 0:02:35.716 --> 0:02:38.356 I'm just going to call him by his nickname Bridge. 0:02:39.516 --> 0:02:42.356 Bridge looks more like a wizard than a lawman, has 0:02:42.396 --> 0:02:46.596 his huge beard, really soft spoken guy, no jetpack, but 0:02:46.676 --> 0:02:49.636 he does ride a motorcycle. How confident did you feel 0:02:49.676 --> 0:02:55.316 that you were going to find her? How can you say? 0:02:55.316 --> 0:02:58.996 One hundred percent. One hundred percent on every investigation at work. 0:03:00.316 --> 0:03:02.796 Doesn't mean I find him every time, but yeah, I 0:03:02.836 --> 0:03:06.556 was one hundred percent. When Bridge started on the case, 0:03:07.036 --> 0:03:10.276 his first goal was to figure out who, if anyone, 0:03:10.356 --> 0:03:14.116 she was still in contact with, Like, did she have 0:03:14.276 --> 0:03:17.796 a lifeline? You know, being a fugitive stressful, You're always 0:03:17.796 --> 0:03:20.356 looking over your shoulder, You're always wondering this is today 0:03:20.396 --> 0:03:25.836 of the day. On the one hand, it makes perfect 0:03:25.836 --> 0:03:29.756 sense to want a lifeline, but it's also a liability 0:03:30.396 --> 0:03:34.476 because whoever that lifeline is, whether it's a sister or 0:03:34.516 --> 0:03:38.396 a father or an old flame, that person can also 0:03:38.516 --> 0:03:44.396 betray you, either deliberately or accidentally. So Bridge says, in 0:03:44.516 --> 0:03:48.636 order to stay truly hidden, you have to cut everyone off. 0:03:49.476 --> 0:03:50.956 That's a hard thing to do, you know. When you 0:03:51.636 --> 0:03:54.276 it's easy to say, it's very easy to say I 0:03:54.316 --> 0:03:56.996 can cut everyone off, It's not easy to do. So 0:03:57.036 --> 0:04:01.956 the question was did esther reed have a lifeline? Bridge 0:04:01.996 --> 0:04:04.516 hope that the answer was yes, and that he might 0:04:04.556 --> 0:04:08.796 find them. So now all hopes were pinned on John, 0:04:09.716 --> 0:04:14.236 the federal government's very own Boba Fette, the last best hope, 0:04:14.916 --> 0:04:18.436 though there actually was yet another person looking for Esther 0:04:18.556 --> 0:04:22.316 Reid arguably the person who knew her better and longer 0:04:22.396 --> 0:04:25.996 than anyone else, and who had the best insight into 0:04:26.076 --> 0:04:30.156 why Esther was running in the first place. In this episode, 0:04:30.596 --> 0:04:33.516 I'm going to tell you both their stories, because they 0:04:33.516 --> 0:04:36.756 were both looking for Esther Reid and only one of 0:04:36.796 --> 0:04:56.796 them would find her. I'm Jake Halbern and this is 0:04:56.836 --> 0:05:24.676 Deep Cover, Season three, Never Seen Again, Episode five, The Searchers. 0:05:31.796 --> 0:05:33.676 I'm just gonna ask you. I'm just gonna ask you 0:05:33.716 --> 0:05:38.116 to start by introducing yourself and explaining how you're related 0:05:38.236 --> 0:05:45.036 to Esther. My name is Edna, and I am one 0:05:45.236 --> 0:05:50.196 of many older sisters. Edna is the other person searching 0:05:50.236 --> 0:05:53.636 for Esther in this story. In the interest of privacy, 0:05:53.756 --> 0:05:56.236 I'm only going to use first names when talking about 0:05:56.396 --> 0:06:01.436 Esther's siblings. Technically, Edna is Esther's half sister. They had 0:06:01.476 --> 0:06:05.236 the same mom, but different dads. Edna is older by 0:06:05.316 --> 0:06:08.436 quite a bit. She was almost twenty when Esther was born. 0:06:09.156 --> 0:06:12.276 So many ways, Edna was more like a second mom 0:06:12.356 --> 0:06:15.676 than a sibling. As far as I can tell, Edna 0:06:15.836 --> 0:06:18.516 was devoted not just to Esther, but to all of 0:06:18.516 --> 0:06:21.756 her siblings. There were a lot of them too. Nine 0:06:21.796 --> 0:06:26.076 in total, Edna says she was the hub, the connector 0:06:26.196 --> 0:06:30.356 in the family. I like to know what's going on, 0:06:30.996 --> 0:06:33.676 solve the issue. I'm a fixer. I want to control 0:06:33.716 --> 0:06:38.796 my environment and I don't like chaos, so I tend 0:06:38.836 --> 0:06:44.316 to make a plan and do it. That was her credo. 0:06:44.716 --> 0:06:48.836 No chaos, no drama, keep it neat. I mean, everybody 0:06:48.836 --> 0:06:50.676 in my family knows. When you put the mayonnaise back 0:06:50.676 --> 0:06:52.996 in my fridge, it always goes in the door. At 0:06:53.036 --> 0:06:56.156 this fight, don't stick it anywhere else because I want 0:06:56.156 --> 0:06:58.636 it where I want it. I like things to be 0:06:58.716 --> 0:07:00.316 there when I go get them. I want to know 0:07:00.316 --> 0:07:03.236 where they are. She wants to know where the mayo is. 0:07:03.956 --> 0:07:07.876 So you can only imagine how distraught she was when 0:07:08.076 --> 0:07:13.396 Esther vanished, because she'd watched Esther grow up and even 0:07:13.436 --> 0:07:16.836 helped raise her in some ways. In the summers when 0:07:16.836 --> 0:07:20.596 they were kids, Esther and her brother EJ would stay 0:07:20.596 --> 0:07:23.636 with Edna and Seattle like a sleepaway camp in the 0:07:23.676 --> 0:07:27.716 big city. We had so much fun because they were 0:07:27.836 --> 0:07:32.516 Montanic kids that never saw or experienced anything. Edna remembers 0:07:32.556 --> 0:07:35.836 one visit in particular, when Esther was probably about eight 0:07:35.916 --> 0:07:39.476 years old. They all took a ferry ride, visited the 0:07:39.516 --> 0:07:43.596 space needle had a ball. Even the local department store 0:07:43.756 --> 0:07:47.716 was a big hit. The escalator was fascinating to them, 0:07:48.116 --> 0:07:49.596 so if we were bored, I just walked over and 0:07:49.796 --> 0:07:51.756 to bid the ESK latter up and down, because they 0:07:51.756 --> 0:07:56.716 thought that was cool. Esther also became close with Edna's husband, Randy. 0:07:57.316 --> 0:08:00.476 He was kind of like a second father. Edna says. 0:08:00.556 --> 0:08:04.276 He was a gentle giant. Randy and Esther played all 0:08:04.356 --> 0:08:08.196 kinds of board games together. Esther would talk trash and 0:08:08.276 --> 0:08:11.196 he would tell her playfully, hey, don't let your alligator 0:08:11.276 --> 0:08:14.356 mouth get your teddy bear ass in trouble. He was 0:08:14.476 --> 0:08:20.156 that kind of guy, and Esther loved him. When Esther 0:08:20.276 --> 0:08:23.676 went missing, she was twenty one years old, so not 0:08:23.756 --> 0:08:27.796 a kid anymore, but still, her disappearance turned to Edna's 0:08:27.796 --> 0:08:31.556 world upside down. And we'll get into all that, but 0:08:31.676 --> 0:08:34.796 before we do, I want to mention something. When I 0:08:34.836 --> 0:08:37.436 spoke with Esther, she told me that she was running 0:08:37.556 --> 0:08:41.036 in large part to get away from Edna, to escape 0:08:41.036 --> 0:08:45.396 her older sister. And it got me wondering what exactly 0:08:45.476 --> 0:08:50.196 happened between these two siblings, because they're falling out. Whatever 0:08:50.276 --> 0:08:54.636 caused It seemed to have so many implications about why 0:08:54.796 --> 0:09:00.876 Esther was running and how she might be found. As 0:09:00.916 --> 0:09:03.796 far as I can tell, the relationship between the two 0:09:03.916 --> 0:09:08.516 sisters started to sour when Esther became a teenager. As 0:09:08.556 --> 0:09:11.156 you may recall, this was a rough period for Esther. 0:09:11.716 --> 0:09:15.996 Her parents had separated, She was suffering from severe social anxiety. 0:09:16.436 --> 0:09:19.836 She refused to go to school. Sometimes she hid in 0:09:19.836 --> 0:09:23.516 the basement of her house instead. Edna watched all of 0:09:23.556 --> 0:09:27.636 this with concern. I saw her pull away and pull 0:09:27.716 --> 0:09:32.236 into herself more. The one person that Esther remained close 0:09:32.316 --> 0:09:37.076 to was her mother. She was truly Esther's pillar. Esther 0:09:37.196 --> 0:09:39.556 talked to me about this a lot, how her mom 0:09:39.636 --> 0:09:42.676 was the only person who really tried to understand what 0:09:42.756 --> 0:09:46.196 she was going through and who helped her cope. But 0:09:46.316 --> 0:09:49.916 to Edna, with her cut and dry, no nonsense demeanor, 0:09:50.436 --> 0:09:54.236 this all looked a bit different. They were very close. 0:09:54.836 --> 0:09:58.676 But my mom babied her a lot. And I know 0:09:58.836 --> 0:10:01.316 I'm an older sibling thing this about a younger sibling, 0:10:01.356 --> 0:10:04.476 and we all say that, but she really did. In 0:10:04.516 --> 0:10:08.036 many many ways. Esther was a very little girl, even 0:10:08.076 --> 0:10:13.156 at eighteen. That bluntness is kind of Edna's trademark. I 0:10:13.236 --> 0:10:16.676 talked about this with their brother EJ. He was close 0:10:16.756 --> 0:10:20.596 with both of his sisters and witnessed their dynamic. I 0:10:20.596 --> 0:10:23.156 think Edna kind of ran over Ester. I don't know 0:10:23.156 --> 0:10:27.316 if it's intentional or just when. Like when a horse 0:10:27.356 --> 0:10:29.956 walks by and knocks you over. It definitely hurts you, 0:10:30.156 --> 0:10:33.076 but did the horse means to do it? And I 0:10:33.116 --> 0:10:36.076 think that's kind of how Edna is. She's just a 0:10:36.156 --> 0:10:40.876 force of nature and she doesn't intentionally hurt people, but 0:10:41.076 --> 0:10:45.156 quite often they are damaged in her wake. The tensions 0:10:45.196 --> 0:10:48.836 between Esther and Edna really came to a head around 0:10:48.836 --> 0:10:52.036 the time her mom's cancer came back. They were all 0:10:52.076 --> 0:10:56.196 living in Seattle at the time. Edna, being the family fixer, 0:10:56.516 --> 0:11:00.316 jumped right in. She became her mom's caregiver twenty four 0:11:00.356 --> 0:11:03.756 to seven. It was exhausting, and it went on for years. 0:11:06.396 --> 0:11:10.196 As their mom's health worsened. She spoke handedly with Edna 0:11:10.396 --> 0:11:14.516 about matters that were emotional but also practical, like what 0:11:14.556 --> 0:11:18.836 would happen after she was gone. Apparently their mom was 0:11:18.956 --> 0:11:23.996 very concerned about Esther as thigs got worse. I remember 0:11:24.036 --> 0:11:26.356 my mom telling me that you need to watch her. 0:11:26.476 --> 0:11:29.116 You need to take care of her. She's going to 0:11:29.196 --> 0:11:32.796 need to be taken care of after I die. That 0:11:32.996 --> 0:11:35.116 was always her verbages, you need to take care of 0:11:35.116 --> 0:11:37.036 her and watch out for her because she's going to 0:11:37.116 --> 0:11:39.796 have a hard time. What did you say to your 0:11:39.836 --> 0:11:43.836 mom in response, I mean, she's part of my family. 0:11:43.876 --> 0:11:45.596 Of course, I'm going to watch out for her. That's 0:11:45.596 --> 0:11:47.596 what we do. You know, our whole family does that 0:11:47.676 --> 0:11:53.756 with each other. You know, that's what family does. At 0:11:53.796 --> 0:11:56.756 one point, Edna had to go away for a quick trip, 0:11:57.196 --> 0:11:59.676 and she asked esther to stand in for her, to 0:11:59.716 --> 0:12:02.036 stay at the house and to look after their mom. 0:12:02.996 --> 0:12:07.076 Esther told me about this. My mom was having a 0:12:07.116 --> 0:12:10.716 really bad time with the chemo. It was just awful. 0:12:11.196 --> 0:12:14.596 And then I remember she goes, I can't do this, 0:12:14.796 --> 0:12:18.356 and I remember being like, what do you mean you 0:12:18.396 --> 0:12:20.876 can't do Like what are you talking about? And then 0:12:21.156 --> 0:12:24.916 I remember she said, even for you, I can't do this. 0:12:26.716 --> 0:12:32.356 And then I mean, I think, rationally I knew that 0:12:32.356 --> 0:12:35.076 that meant that she had chosen to just to die. 0:12:38.516 --> 0:12:42.116 When their mom finally passed, it hit the two sisters 0:12:42.236 --> 0:12:47.236 very differently. Ej their brother, saw it this way. Edna 0:12:47.396 --> 0:12:52.596 was taking care of mom. So when mom died, then 0:12:52.916 --> 0:12:57.236 suddenly n they got her life back. But my mom 0:12:57.276 --> 0:13:00.756 died for Esther, I think Mom was just the pillar 0:13:00.796 --> 0:13:03.556 of Esther's life, and when she was gone, it was 0:13:04.036 --> 0:13:12.836 difficult to find her way. Afterwards, Edna invited Esther to 0:13:12.916 --> 0:13:16.796 move in, but it didn't go well. They fought about 0:13:16.876 --> 0:13:20.716 matters large and small, like I don't need to put 0:13:20.756 --> 0:13:22.876 the silverware in the silverware drawer the white ware. I 0:13:22.876 --> 0:13:25.276 don't need to hang the dish towel up exactly how 0:13:25.276 --> 0:13:27.036 you're going to hang it up. I don't need to 0:13:27.076 --> 0:13:29.596 stack the plates exactly how you're going to stack them. 0:13:29.796 --> 0:13:32.956 And I know that maybe I put the bread on 0:13:32.996 --> 0:13:35.156 the left side instead of the right side. Like She's 0:13:35.196 --> 0:13:39.036 just a very very critical human being and after a while, 0:13:39.116 --> 0:13:42.156 like you just are like can you just get off me? 0:13:42.756 --> 0:13:46.116 This may sound like ordinary stuff, the sort of fight 0:13:46.236 --> 0:13:50.196 that happens when any house guests stays too long, but 0:13:50.316 --> 0:13:54.036 for Esther, it was darker than that. Because of her 0:13:54.076 --> 0:13:58.996 social anxiety, Esther says she needed space, time to recharge, 0:13:59.476 --> 0:14:02.356 which Edna wouldn't give her. And of course, she had 0:14:02.396 --> 0:14:06.436 just lost her mom, who was her refuge. And even 0:14:06.436 --> 0:14:10.116 though Edna cared for her. She was a Rickley substitute. 0:14:10.836 --> 0:14:16.116 So Esther moved out and then she was truly alone. 0:14:17.156 --> 0:14:20.236 Esther says from here she went into a tailspin. Couldn't 0:14:20.236 --> 0:14:23.436 hold down a job. She says, she was homeless, crashing 0:14:23.436 --> 0:14:26.516 with friends or wherever she could. I mean, I was 0:14:26.556 --> 0:14:31.356 incredibly depressed. I've just lost my mom. I have no 0:14:31.396 --> 0:14:41.756 contact with really anybody who's able willing to help, you know, 0:14:42.076 --> 0:14:46.436 thinking about killing myself all the time. Like at that point, 0:14:46.436 --> 0:14:52.276 it's just survival, like just get through the day. Several 0:14:52.316 --> 0:14:55.396 months passed and Edna hadn't heard much from her sister. 0:14:56.356 --> 0:14:59.596 Then one day she got a call from the police. 0:15:00.796 --> 0:15:03.676 They told her they just arrested a thief who'd stolen 0:15:03.716 --> 0:15:07.196 a purse and they'd found one of Edna's blank checks 0:15:07.196 --> 0:15:10.756 on her. The cops to know if Edna knew the culprit. 0:15:11.236 --> 0:15:13.036 So nice of all, there is a person, well do 0:15:13.036 --> 0:15:15.396 you know a person called Esther read and I'm like, oh, yeah, 0:15:15.436 --> 0:15:22.676 she's a nice sister. This came as a shock and 0:15:22.756 --> 0:15:25.796 it also cleared up something for Edna. You see, a 0:15:25.836 --> 0:15:29.316 while back, someone had stolen Edna's check book and had 0:15:29.316 --> 0:15:32.556 written some hot checks in her name, but Edna never 0:15:32.596 --> 0:15:35.676 figured out who that was. She never suspected that her 0:15:35.716 --> 0:15:39.556 own sister was to blame, but now she learned that 0:15:39.916 --> 0:15:43.516 after Esther moved out, she'd actually broken into her house 0:15:43.716 --> 0:15:48.956 through a window and grabbed her check book. At this point, 0:15:49.436 --> 0:15:52.676 Esther had gotten herself in a real pickle. The police 0:15:52.716 --> 0:15:55.396 had busted her for stealing a purse from her coworker. 0:15:55.796 --> 0:15:59.796 The coworker was pressing charges, so Esther had to appear 0:15:59.836 --> 0:16:09.396 before judge. On the day of the hearing, Edna down 0:16:09.396 --> 0:16:12.316 to the courthouse too, just so she could see her 0:16:12.356 --> 0:16:15.356 sister because it had been months since I had last spoken. 0:16:16.516 --> 0:16:19.516 At the hearing, Esther caught a break. The judge gave 0:16:19.556 --> 0:16:24.916 her probation and three days in jail. Afterwards, Edna tracked 0:16:24.916 --> 0:16:28.396 down Esther in the parking lot and confronted her because 0:16:28.396 --> 0:16:31.676 even though she wasn't pressing charges, she still had beef 0:16:31.676 --> 0:16:34.916 with her sister. Edna says, in the heat of the moment, 0:16:35.436 --> 0:16:39.356 she was very upset. I don't feel anger. I feel betrayal. 0:16:40.516 --> 0:16:43.596 And that's the hardest thing I think is the feeling 0:16:44.396 --> 0:16:49.196 of someone you love and loves you back, but do 0:16:49.276 --> 0:16:51.796 that to you. You don't do that to people you love, 0:16:51.956 --> 0:16:55.796 you just don't. Edna confronted her about the stolen checks, 0:16:56.396 --> 0:16:58.716 and her only response was, well, I didn't think it 0:16:58.716 --> 0:17:01.156 would affect who excained. The bank would take care of it, 0:17:01.236 --> 0:17:05.436 and it's like, so that makes it okay. I remember 0:17:05.516 --> 0:17:08.596 her saying, you're so lucky I didn't testify against you. 0:17:08.716 --> 0:17:11.316 She said, I wanted to say so many things up there. 0:17:11.636 --> 0:17:13.716 You're not sorry for anything, and she was just like 0:17:13.796 --> 0:17:18.636 going off on me. Edna's whole thing was tough love, 0:17:19.276 --> 0:17:22.396 and she genuinely wanted to fix things, put the mayo 0:17:22.476 --> 0:17:25.916 back where it belonged, get Esther's life back into shape. 0:17:26.476 --> 0:17:30.196 She kept calling and emailing Esther. Edna told me she 0:17:30.276 --> 0:17:33.396 wasn't very soft and compassionate. She felt like her little 0:17:33.436 --> 0:17:36.796 sister needed to get her shit together and she wanted 0:17:36.796 --> 0:17:40.996 to help. But to Esther, this didn't feel like help 0:17:41.036 --> 0:17:44.796 at all. It felt more like harassment and judgment, which 0:17:44.836 --> 0:17:47.716 she didn't want, which she was desperate to get away from. 0:17:47.716 --> 0:17:51.196 In fact, the one person who might have fixed all 0:17:51.196 --> 0:17:55.156 of this was their mother, but she was gone, and 0:17:55.196 --> 0:17:58.276 this seemed to underscore the tragedy of it all, because 0:17:58.316 --> 0:18:00.796 there was no one left to keep the peace between 0:18:00.796 --> 0:18:04.276 the two sisters or to help Esther get back on 0:18:04.316 --> 0:18:10.476 her feet. After this fight in the parking lot, Esther 0:18:10.596 --> 0:18:14.556 took off. She did not want to be accountable to 0:18:14.756 --> 0:18:17.836 me for what she did, so in a way, me 0:18:18.036 --> 0:18:24.476 confronting her, I feel kind of I don't know if 0:18:24.476 --> 0:18:27.076 it made her run away, but she didn't want to 0:18:27.116 --> 0:18:33.516 face it. Weeks passed, than months, then years, and Esther 0:18:33.996 --> 0:18:37.716 never returned. She just took off. I mean it just 0:18:39.036 --> 0:18:47.156 and she was totally gone. All the while, Edna recalled 0:18:47.196 --> 0:18:49.716 what her mom had asked of her before she died. 0:18:50.476 --> 0:18:52.756 She was very concerned of what would happen to Esther 0:18:52.836 --> 0:18:57.356 when she was gone. Of course, I felt like I 0:18:57.436 --> 0:19:00.076 let my mom down because I didn't take the enough 0:19:00.156 --> 0:19:03.636 care of Esther and she took off. Edna tried to 0:19:03.676 --> 0:19:07.036 find her. She eventually filed a missing person's report with 0:19:07.076 --> 0:19:10.436 the police. At one point, the authorities even found a 0:19:10.476 --> 0:19:13.276 body that they thought might be her. They did a 0:19:13.356 --> 0:19:18.636 DNA test, it wasn't Esther, and so the mystery lingered. 0:19:19.236 --> 0:19:23.756 At family gatherings, everyone would wonder about her. You get 0:19:23.756 --> 0:19:26.596 together and everybody's there, but she's missing, you know, and 0:19:26.676 --> 0:19:30.356 it's like we're not complete she was just always missed. 0:19:31.196 --> 0:19:35.796 Because that's the thing about Edna. She was gruff and forceful, 0:19:36.196 --> 0:19:39.436 the horse that might knock you over, but she did care. 0:19:39.876 --> 0:19:42.556 And the uncertainty of it all ate away at her. 0:19:43.156 --> 0:19:45.556 And it's like, I need to know. I need to 0:19:45.596 --> 0:19:47.756 know if she's dead or alive. I just need to 0:19:47.796 --> 0:19:51.436 know that she's okay or she's gone. I mean, the 0:19:51.556 --> 0:19:56.356 wondering was very hard. And this wondering, this state of 0:19:56.476 --> 0:20:00.876 not knowing, continued for almost seven years until about two 0:20:00.916 --> 0:20:05.596 thousand and six. At that point, the authorities contacted Edna 0:20:05.676 --> 0:20:08.796 and she learned that her sister was in fact alive, 0:20:09.436 --> 0:20:13.356 that she had attended Columbia University posing as Brooke Henson, 0:20:14.076 --> 0:20:18.196 but that she was once again on the run. Edna 0:20:18.316 --> 0:20:21.436 wanted to help the authorities find Esther, and it seemed 0:20:21.476 --> 0:20:25.036 like Edna was, in theory a great resource, but at 0:20:25.036 --> 0:20:30.036 this point she hadn't heard from Esther in years. Esther 0:20:30.196 --> 0:20:33.436 Reid did not appear to have a lifeline. She had 0:20:33.436 --> 0:20:37.716 cut everyone off, but she'd actually done one better than that. 0:20:38.316 --> 0:20:41.836 She'd hit the reset button once again. She'd dialed up 0:20:41.916 --> 0:20:45.676 yet another identity, which meant once more she was a 0:20:45.716 --> 0:20:49.556 few steps ahead of Edna and John Bridge and all 0:20:49.596 --> 0:21:08.356 the other people who were looking for her. John Bridge, 0:21:08.596 --> 0:21:12.076 the US Marshal, the boba Fette of the federal government. 0:21:12.596 --> 0:21:15.676 He'd reached a dead end because esther she did not 0:21:15.796 --> 0:21:19.596 seem to have a lifeline. So Bridge knew he'd need 0:21:19.676 --> 0:21:24.996 another strategy. I did use creativity in this investigation, but 0:21:25.476 --> 0:21:27.756 that kind of goes into the areas that I can't 0:21:27.796 --> 0:21:32.796 really discuss the process. Bridge told me that he couldn't 0:21:32.836 --> 0:21:36.436 get into the exact methods that he used, basically the 0:21:36.556 --> 0:21:40.636 tradecraft that the US marshals used to find people. What 0:21:40.756 --> 0:21:43.876 he could tell me was that he eventually discovered a 0:21:43.916 --> 0:21:47.716 trail of breadcrumbs on the internet. I was able to 0:21:49.036 --> 0:21:53.636 basically put pinpoints on a map. They were like spots 0:21:53.636 --> 0:22:00.156 and time, just very brief glimpses into what she was doing. Basically, 0:22:00.276 --> 0:22:03.316 he figured out when and where she was on a 0:22:03.356 --> 0:22:07.076 few occasions. The only problem was that by the time 0:22:07.116 --> 0:22:10.916 he had this intel, it was a year old, so 0:22:11.156 --> 0:22:15.556 a pretty cold trail, right, But that didn't matter to Bridge. 0:22:15.956 --> 0:22:19.756 What he was looking for were identifiers like what name 0:22:19.836 --> 0:22:22.996 was esther using now, what kind of car was she driving? 0:22:23.476 --> 0:22:26.556 And what state was her driver's license from that kind 0:22:26.556 --> 0:22:32.236 of thing. So Bridge took a very close look at 0:22:32.236 --> 0:22:35.316 the places where she'd been at those pin points on 0:22:35.356 --> 0:22:39.036 the map, and a few of them were businesses, So 0:22:39.356 --> 0:22:42.156 he got a list of all the customers at one 0:22:42.196 --> 0:22:45.276 of those businesses on a given day, and then what 0:22:45.356 --> 0:22:48.636 he did was he'd compared that to other businesses that 0:22:48.716 --> 0:22:52.276 she'd been to on other days, and by comparing a 0:22:52.276 --> 0:22:55.876 few different lists, he was able to identify a name 0:22:56.036 --> 0:23:01.596 that popped up on all of them, Jennifer Myers. She 0:23:01.756 --> 0:23:05.636 was using Jenni Meyers, Jennimrie Meyers, Jennifer Meyers. She would 0:23:05.796 --> 0:23:09.716 like construe that different ways when she would give her 0:23:09.756 --> 0:23:13.796 name to people. Using this info, he was able to 0:23:13.796 --> 0:23:17.836 determine that she had gotten a driver's license from Iowa, 0:23:17.876 --> 0:23:19.956 and then he figured out what kind of car she 0:23:20.076 --> 0:23:24.796 was driving, a nineteen ninety three green Subaru Legacy, and 0:23:24.996 --> 0:23:27.876 from there Bridge says he knew it was just a 0:23:27.876 --> 0:23:31.556 matter of time before he found her. He began to 0:23:31.596 --> 0:23:35.356 gather more current pinpoints for his map, and in the 0:23:35.436 --> 0:23:38.356 early winter of two thousand and eight, he came to 0:23:38.436 --> 0:23:42.516 believe that she was occasionally in Tiny Park, Illinois, just 0:23:42.636 --> 0:23:46.476 outside of Chicago. So He called the police department there 0:23:46.956 --> 0:23:48.716 and told him to keep an eye out for that 0:23:48.836 --> 0:23:59.916 green Subaru and its driver, one Jennifer Myers. Where did 0:23:59.916 --> 0:24:03.876 the name Jennifer Myers come from? That? Again, I want 0:24:03.916 --> 0:24:07.636 to be very careful here. Interestingly, there were things that 0:24:07.836 --> 0:24:10.876 Esther wouldn't tell me either tradecraft, I guess you could 0:24:10.876 --> 0:24:13.796 call it. Esther insists that she didn't want to glorify 0:24:13.916 --> 0:24:16.316 what she did or how she did it, or have 0:24:16.436 --> 0:24:19.996 anyone else following her footsteps. So she was pretty tight 0:24:20.076 --> 0:24:23.316 lepped here. But I was able to piece together much 0:24:23.316 --> 0:24:27.916 of what I wanted to know by combing through court records. Basically, 0:24:28.236 --> 0:24:31.916 she obtained a birth certificate in one state and then 0:24:32.236 --> 0:24:36.036 created a fake marriage in another. That way, she cooked 0:24:36.076 --> 0:24:40.676 up a completely fictional identity, and this new identity worked 0:24:40.716 --> 0:24:43.516 for a while until the winter of two thousand and eight. 0:24:44.036 --> 0:24:47.196 At the time, she was intently Park, Illinois, just one 0:24:47.196 --> 0:24:49.556 of the many places where she stayed as she moved 0:24:49.596 --> 0:24:52.876 about the Midwest. One day, she was in her car, 0:24:53.236 --> 0:24:56.036 she'd been driving around, had been pulling up to a 0:24:56.116 --> 0:24:58.556 stoplight and there was a cop car and you know 0:24:58.636 --> 0:25:01.356 how like there's two lanes and normally he would pull 0:25:01.436 --> 0:25:04.156 up next to me, flush with me. He kind of 0:25:04.236 --> 0:25:06.196 stopped at the back of my car and I was like, 0:25:06.636 --> 0:25:10.316 is he fucking run in my plate? The answer was yes, 0:25:10.716 --> 0:25:14.276 he was fucking running her plate, and pretty soon us 0:25:14.396 --> 0:25:18.836 Marshall john Bridge knew exactly where she was. About two 0:25:18.836 --> 0:25:22.796 weeks later, Esther was passing back through Tinley Park. She 0:25:22.916 --> 0:25:26.076 was in her car, headed for lunch at Arby's. She 0:25:26.196 --> 0:25:28.836 grabbed her food and then headed back to the motel 0:25:28.836 --> 0:25:31.876 where she was staying. And it was a crazy day 0:25:31.876 --> 0:25:34.916 in town because totally by chance, there had been a 0:25:34.996 --> 0:25:38.716 mass shooting in Tinley Park that very morning. A gunman 0:25:38.796 --> 0:25:41.996 had walked into a local department store and killed five 0:25:42.036 --> 0:25:45.796 women in cold blood. So there are now cops everywhere. 0:25:46.636 --> 0:25:50.236 As Esther drove back to her motel, she saw squad cars, 0:25:50.556 --> 0:25:53.676 but she'd heard about the mass shooting, so she didn't 0:25:53.676 --> 0:25:56.396 think any of these cops were looking for her. So 0:25:56.636 --> 0:25:59.156 she gets back to her motel room and a short 0:25:59.196 --> 0:26:02.796 while later there's a knock on the door. She opens 0:26:02.916 --> 0:26:06.476 up and two cops are standing there. They were like, Oh, 0:26:06.516 --> 0:26:08.396 we're just checking IDs, and I was like, oh, yeah, 0:26:08.396 --> 0:26:12.036 you're probably looking for the person. The person meaning the 0:26:12.076 --> 0:26:14.716 shooter because she figured there was some kind of door 0:26:14.716 --> 0:26:18.436 to door search going on. Turns out these two cops 0:26:18.436 --> 0:26:21.796 had spotted her Subaru, called it in and learned that 0:26:21.876 --> 0:26:27.276 its owner, Jennifer Myers aka Esther Reid, was a federal fugitive. 0:26:27.796 --> 0:26:32.636 The dots had finally connected well done John Bridge, So 0:26:33.036 --> 0:26:36.076 at this point the two cops at her door were 0:26:36.156 --> 0:26:44.636 hip to what was going on. Esther wasn't She confidently 0:26:44.676 --> 0:26:48.156 hands them her Jennifer Myers ID. The cops take it, 0:26:48.356 --> 0:26:51.516 call it in, and then tell Esther something to the 0:26:51.516 --> 0:26:55.036 effect of this isn't coming up valid. The cops are 0:26:55.036 --> 0:26:57.916 just standing there in the doorway at this point holding 0:26:57.916 --> 0:27:01.836 her ID, and I was like, what, no, no one 0:27:01.836 --> 0:27:03.636 has to even like this is a good one, like 0:27:03.756 --> 0:27:06.356