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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Melissa Jelson, host of What Happened to Teleinazar.

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Speaker 1: I'm excited to share episode one of our new podcast

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Speaker 1: with you, but I also wanted to let you know

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Speaker 1: that you can listen to episodes completely add free on

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Speaker 1: iHeart True Crime Plus, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. I'm

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Speaker 1: a subscriber and you should be too, so head to

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, search for iHeart True Crime Plus and subscribe.

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Speaker 1: Today the early days of the COVID pandemic.

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Speaker 2: We're scary, the.

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Speaker 1: Mayor today, calling the spread unpredictable and worrisome. This morning

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Speaker 1: a grim new prediction. Nearly three hundred thousand deaths in

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Speaker 1: the US before the New year.

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Speaker 3: People come in, I get in, debated, they die.

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Speaker 1: The cycle repeats, but also but at some distance. The

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Speaker 1: things we did to cope with our fear were pretty weird.

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Speaker 1: Remember disinfecting our groceries, poording toilet paper, burning our mattresses.

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Speaker 1: I didn't do that, but I heard about a woman

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Speaker 1: who did because she thought it was contaminated with COVID.

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Speaker 1: I remember holding my breath when I walked past another

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Speaker 1: person on a secluded lake in the middle of winter

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Speaker 1: with masks on. I'd left New York for rural Pennsylvania

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Speaker 1: with my boyfriend to ride out the worst of COVID.

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Speaker 1: We packed for a weekend and stayed for two months.

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Speaker 1: I ended up marrying the man to we have a baby. Now,

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Speaker 1: looking back, what sticks with me the most about that

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Speaker 1: time is that queasy feeling that everyone I encountered, the

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Speaker 1: Amazon driver, the checkout lady at the grocery store. It

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Speaker 1: was a potential suspect, someone who could unwittingly kill me

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Speaker 1: and my family just by breathing. COVID. Isolation severed even

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Speaker 1: the strongest connections, made it easy to hide behind a

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Speaker 1: mask or behind closed doors, and this changed our collective

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Speaker 1: psyche made us do things we probably wouldn't have otherwise,

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Speaker 1: things we were forced into, or things would always wanted

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Speaker 1: to do and never had the opportunity. It certainly changed

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Speaker 1: the trajectory of Jess Travigno's life.

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Speaker 4: I was scared, you know, like most of the world.

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Speaker 4: I didn't know what was going to happen, or how

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Speaker 4: deadly the virus was, or we didn't know very much.

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Speaker 1: Right one day in April twenty twenty, Jess is in

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Speaker 1: her kitchen, newly unemployed, because you know, COVID and she's

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Speaker 1: trying to take her mind off the chaos of the pandemic.

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Speaker 1: She's attempting to replicate the latest food trend she sees online,

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Speaker 1: a two layered drink called Dalgona coffee.

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Speaker 4: I was making that whipped coffee that you had seen

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Speaker 4: go viral during COVID. I'm obsessed with coffee. Obsessed. It's

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Speaker 4: a terrible obsession. I drink probably two pots a day

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Speaker 4: plus espresso.

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Speaker 2: It's nuts.

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Speaker 4: But I was making this coffee and I'm scrolling on

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Speaker 4: Facebook and I see this post, and I was like,

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Speaker 4: this sounds insane.

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Speaker 1: The post is by a woman in Oklahoma who contracted

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Speaker 1: coronavirus and announced she would not be seeking medical care.

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Speaker 1: Something about her post stops Jess cold. Here's a recreation

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Speaker 1: of parts of the post.

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Speaker 5: Hey everyone, I'm on day nine of this virus, and

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Speaker 5: I am pretty sure it has reached my lungs. Feeling

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Speaker 5: a little raspy and tight. I made the decision at

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Speaker 5: the onset that if it got bad enough, I would

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Speaker 5: not go to the hospital. Those of you who know

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Speaker 5: me well know I have DNR orders in my health

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Speaker 5: directive and I'm not gonna let anyone intobate me. So

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Speaker 5: I've made arrangements to spend some quality alone time at

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Speaker 5: one of my favorite idaways at one of my favorite lakes,

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Speaker 5: and I've booked it for the remainder of this week.

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Speaker 5: Didn't fill up to driving, so I hired a ride.

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Speaker 5: I'm almost there. Please respect my privacy and give me

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Speaker 5: my alone time on the lake. I haven't been chatting

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Speaker 5: with some of you calling you back. I didn't want

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Speaker 5: to be talked out of this plan. After I post this,

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Speaker 5: I am turning off my phone for exactly this reason.

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Speaker 5: I'll catch up with everyone on the other side.

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Speaker 1: Jess reads closer. The woman's name is Teleina Tzar. She

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Speaker 1: is fifty three years old. It seems that no one

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Speaker 1: has heard from Telena since her post a few weeks ago.

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Speaker 1: Jess squints at Telena's profile picture, a smiling selfie taken

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Speaker 1: in the car, her blue green eyes twinkling, and tries

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Speaker 1: to understand why a person would make such a decision.

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Speaker 1: Why would someone with COVID leave their friends and family

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Speaker 1: and go off alone instead of seeking help? And where

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Speaker 1: did she go? Jess, We'll spend the next four years

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Speaker 1: searching for the answer.

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Speaker 4: Sometimes when I tell this story, they're like you're making

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Speaker 4: this up, but nobody has an imagination like this. You

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Speaker 4: couldn't make this story up. There's one hundred little twists

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Speaker 4: and turns that every time you go down a different road,

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Speaker 4: it's another what the fuck is this? Why is this happening?

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Speaker 4: I mean, initially, when I told you, did you believe me?

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Speaker 1: From iHeart Podcasts, I'm Melissa Jelson and this is what

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Speaker 1: happened to Telena's OAR episode one Alone Time.

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Speaker 4: My name is Jess Travino. I'm a really nosy person,

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Speaker 4: so that's how I got caught up in all this.

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Speaker 4: My mom said, I've always been knowsy my whole life.

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Speaker 4: She said, You've always just wanted to know everything about everything.

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Speaker 4: So if I didn't know something, I'd be poking around

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Speaker 4: trying to figure it out. It's not a very endearing

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Speaker 4: thing about me, but it is who I am. It

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Speaker 4: took me like forty years to like me, so I'm

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Speaker 4: just gonna embrace it.

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Speaker 1: Jess's life can be divided into two parts, before she

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Speaker 1: read Telena's Facebook post and after.

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Speaker 4: My whole life has been consumed by this. Since twenty twenty,

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Speaker 4: I've spent four years of my life on her.

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Speaker 1: Jess emailed me in twenty twenty three asking me to

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Speaker 1: look into the disappearance of her friend Talna'zar. She'd come

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Speaker 1: across the earlier seasons of this podcast, What Happened to

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Speaker 1: Sandy Beal, What Happened to Libby Caswell.

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Speaker 4: I remember that I couldn't stop listening. I'd listened to

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Speaker 4: it when I was going to buy it, and then

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Speaker 4: when I got out in the morning, and I'd listened

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Speaker 4: to it throughout the day, and you were so honest

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Speaker 4: about everything in it, like you've seen both sides, right.

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Speaker 4: So I was like, I'm going to reach out to her,

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Speaker 4: like maybe she'll tell a story and she can get

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Speaker 4: both sides, you know.

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Speaker 1: Jess and I emailed back and forth a little bit

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Speaker 1: and had a few phone calls. I learned she was

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Speaker 1: using a loose definition of the word friend when she

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Speaker 1: first reached out to me. She hadn't met Telena, But

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Speaker 1: from what I was able to understand about Telena and

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Speaker 1: Jess's multi year investigation into her life, I was convinced

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Speaker 1: I needed to learn more, and so I flew to

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Speaker 1: Minnesota to meet with Jess in person. Jess lives in

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Speaker 1: an old farmhouse surrounded by cornfields, about a fifty minute

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Speaker 1: drive from Minneapolis. Hey, we are just about three minutes away,

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Speaker 1: passing some more cornfields. No grocery store, no gas stations,

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Speaker 1: nothing absolue.

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Speaker 2: I think it's maybe this house.

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Speaker 4: We were a greening party. Yes, I wanted to be

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Speaker 4: out here when you guys can't make because this is

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Speaker 4: kind of like Okay, I'm.

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Speaker 2: Going to the right place. That was perfect time.

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Speaker 1: Melissa's nice to meet you.

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Speaker 4: So okay, heads up, the two dogs are out are

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Speaker 4: going to bark at you.

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Speaker 6: Okay.

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Speaker 1: He just doesn't grow vegetables or raise farm animals, but

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Speaker 1: her walls are dotted with signs like farm, sweet Farm

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Speaker 1: and farmhouse Ish. Jess does have a lot of pets,

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Speaker 1: three dogs, two cats, and a lot of kids and

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Speaker 1: about a dozen wall clocks that chime at different times

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Speaker 1: of the day. And well, there's a lot going on.

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Speaker 2: I'm forty one.

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Speaker 4: I am an events planner hospitality director for Minnesota Horse

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Speaker 4: and Hunt.

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Speaker 1: Jess was born and raised in Minnesota and has spent

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Speaker 1: most of her life working in bars and restaurants. She

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Speaker 1: had her first child when she was seventeen.

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Speaker 4: I was a dumb teenager. I did a lot of

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Speaker 4: stuff that I mean, nothing criminal, but just stupid. The

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Speaker 4: minute I found out I was pregnant, I decided I

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Speaker 4: cannot screw this up.

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Speaker 1: And went on to have three more.

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Speaker 2: Over here, we've got some family photos.

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Speaker 4: We do so the tall one, this is Riley. He's

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Speaker 4: my Sunnay's twenty three, says Ty. He's twenty one, Maddie seventeen,

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Speaker 4: in Jocelyn fourteen. That's my husband and myself.

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Speaker 1: Jess had wanted to be a writer, she told me,

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Speaker 1: but becoming a young mom meant she wasn't able to

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Speaker 1: finish high school. Eventually, she got her ged and took

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Speaker 1: some college level writing classes before ultimately getting a more

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Speaker 1: practical degree in business. Since then, Jess has worked in

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Speaker 1: various capacities in the hospitality industry, from bartending to large

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Speaker 1: event planning. She likes the work, but it's not her calling.

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Speaker 4: I feel like the only thing I've ever done that's

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Speaker 4: been really, really good is raise my kids.

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Speaker 1: While she's giving me a tour of her home, I

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Speaker 1: notice her bookshelf is cramped with true crime stories, old

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Speaker 1: and new.

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Speaker 4: My husband makes fun of me. I am and it

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Speaker 4: sounds really bad, but let me explain. I'm obsessed with

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Speaker 4: serial killers, and I mean obsessed. I don't know what

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Speaker 4: my problem is. It all comes from wanting to know

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Speaker 4: how their brain works, not like obsessed with Oh I

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Speaker 4: love murder, but I love trying to figure out why

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Speaker 4: and who and what was going through their brain? What

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Speaker 4: makes you want to kill somebody?

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Speaker 1: Jess tells me her fascination with crime star when she

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Speaker 1: was still a kid. She remembers following the Menendaz Brother's

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Speaker 1: case on TV and watching oj Simpson's Bronco racing down

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Speaker 1: the Expressway in real time. But the first true crime

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Speaker 1: story that completely enthralled her was that of Eileen Warnos,

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Speaker 1: who killed at least seven men between nineteen eighty nine

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Speaker 1: and nineteen ninety and has been dubbed America's first female

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Speaker 1: serial killer.

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Speaker 4: Eileen Mornos was a huge one for me. I thought

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Speaker 4: she was fascinating. I felt like she was very much

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Speaker 4: a victim and tried to understand where she was coming from.

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Speaker 4: You know, she was a prostitute and she had a

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Speaker 4: really hard life growing up, really hard life. She was

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Speaker 4: molested and raped, you know, from the time she was

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Speaker 4: a child. So that I got super interested, and then

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Speaker 4: I started looking at the Green River Killer and a

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Speaker 4: Zodiac Killer, and just deep dived into all the serial killers.

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Speaker 4: I find them fascinating.

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Speaker 1: Jess became an avid reader of crime novels. She devoured

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Speaker 1: In Cold Blood by Truman Capoti, To Kill a Mockingbird

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Speaker 1: by Harperley, worked her way through the back catalog of

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Speaker 1: true crime Icon and Rule. The stories she liked the

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Speaker 1: best dealt with big, complicated questions of justice, punishment and fairness,

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Speaker 1: what's right and what's wrong? And where those lines become blurry.

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Speaker 1: As a reporter who's dedicated my life to these topics,

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Speaker 1: I can relate. Later, around twenty seventeen, after crime podcasts

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Speaker 1: exploded onto the scene, Jess got into those too.

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Speaker 4: I listened to a ton of podcasts. I started with

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Speaker 4: Crime Junkies and then I went to Morbid. I'd listened

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Speaker 4: to Dateline if I'd missed an episode on TV, I

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Speaker 4: found you recently.

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Speaker 1: Obviously, for Jess, part of the thrill of all this

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Speaker 1: was discussing the cases with others on social media.

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Speaker 4: I just would join the pages after I'd listened to

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Speaker 4: a podcast, wanting to know, like let's discuss this, and like, hey, what'.

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Speaker 2: Do you think of this?

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Speaker 4: What do you think of that?

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Speaker 1: So you were an active participant, not just a lurker.

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Speaker 4: You'll notice that about me. I don't lurk. I'm out there.

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Speaker 4: I'm an action kind of girl.

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Speaker 1: All those hours reading about true crime, listening to true crime,

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Speaker 1: discussing true crime provided Jess with a masterclass on how

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Speaker 1: not to get murdered. She knows, never go to a

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Speaker 1: second location, Always trust your instincts. You're much more likely

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Speaker 1: to be killed by someone you know than a stranger.

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Speaker 1: If you can run, run. It also taught her some

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Speaker 1: real world skills on how to investigate cases, the same

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Speaker 1: type of skills I use in my reporting in between

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Speaker 1: bartending shifts and putting the kids to bed. Just learned

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Speaker 1: how to do a background check, how to trace people's

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Speaker 1: Internet footprints, how to track down old criminal records, and

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Speaker 1: dig up archival news coverage.

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Speaker 4: I just love to know how point A got to

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Speaker 4: point F, trying to follow all the dots in between another.

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Speaker 4: People get a lot of shit online about being you know,

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Speaker 4: Internet tough guys and Internet armchair detectives. But we're in

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Speaker 4: a digital age. Maybe thirty years ago you needed the

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Speaker 4: boots on the ground and be there. But this is

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Speaker 4: the way that it's happening now. I feel like a

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Speaker 4: lot of stuff is solved literally on the Internet.

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Speaker 1: It's on the internet on a Facebook fan page for

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Speaker 1: crime Junkies, where Jess first sees Telenazar's post about having

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Speaker 1: COVID and choosing to go off into the wilderness alone

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Speaker 1: rather than go to the hospital.

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Speaker 5: Please respect my privacy and give me my alone time

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Speaker 5: on the lake.

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Speaker 1: A friend of Telena's named Nicole had uploaded screenshots of

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Speaker 1: Telena's post to the group in an attempt to solicit help.

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Speaker 1: I asked Jess to read some of Nichole's plea.

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Speaker 4: Hi Junkies. Since April seventh, my dear friend has been missing.

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Speaker 4: She left this post and we haven't heard from her.

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Speaker 4: Since the information we have doesn't make sense. I've spent

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Speaker 4: every day and night going over them. Out of desperation,

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Speaker 4: I thought I would post here and see what you

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Speaker 4: all think. My friend lives in a very small town

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Speaker 4: near Tulsa, Oklahoma. The police would not investigate this because

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Speaker 4: of the post. She would not make people worry for

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Speaker 4: this long. She just wouldn't. And if she died from

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Speaker 4: this virus, where is her body? Am I being paranoid?

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Speaker 4: What can I do to locate her. I can't sleep,

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Speaker 4: but I can't really grieve or have any hope after

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Speaker 4: this time. Anyone, anyone have any ideas on what to do?

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Speaker 4: Thanks in advance.

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Speaker 3: I just didn't feel like she would leave that many

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Speaker 3: people worried about her.

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Speaker 1: This is Nicole Carr. She's the author of the post

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Speaker 1: asking for help finding to Lena.

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Speaker 3: It wouldn't be a strange for her to go off,

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Speaker 3: because if she was sick, she wouldn't have wanted to

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Speaker 3: make anyone else sick. But for her to just leave

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Speaker 3: people with no way of contacting her and knowing if

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Speaker 3: she was alive or dead was strange to me.

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Speaker 1: Nicole knew Telena's habits because she was one of her

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Speaker 1: best friends that had been close since they met in

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Speaker 1: twenty ten.

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Speaker 2: It was love at first to get together.

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Speaker 3: She was the kind of friend that you could call

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Speaker 3: at three am, knowing that she would answer with equal

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Speaker 3: part concern and humor to.

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Speaker 2: Cheer you up.

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Speaker 3: Her kitchen was her happy place, and she always had

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Speaker 3: the aroma of something simmering or cooking or frying, and

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Speaker 3: if not, she was planning something to.

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Speaker 2: Simmeror cooker, cook her fry.

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Speaker 3: Sharing a meal with her was really like being wrapped

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Speaker 3: up in love. She lived with her heart wide open,

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Speaker 3: and you couldn't help but just feel lucky that she

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Speaker 3: was in your life. Nicole and Tealina's friendship had always

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Speaker 3: it has been long distance that had never lived in

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Speaker 3: the same state at the same time, but they found

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Speaker 3: ways to connect both online and in person.

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Speaker 2: We did text a.

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Speaker 3: Lot and talked on the phone, and then also through

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Speaker 3: Facebook a lot, sharing memes, trying to.

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Speaker 2: Make each other laugh.

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Speaker 1: In February twenty twenty, Talina went to Tennessee to visit

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Speaker 1: Nicole at her home.

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Speaker 2: She came and spent three days with me.

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Speaker 3: We of course cooked and played video games and watched

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Speaker 3: TV and talked and cried and laughed, and we really

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Speaker 3: had a great visit. And it was right before they

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Speaker 3: asked everybody you know to go home and stay.

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Speaker 1: Telena left and immediately the friends started planning their next visit.

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Speaker 1: This time Talina would host Nicole at her house in Wagner, Oklahoma,

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Speaker 1: but COVID got too big too quickly.

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Speaker 3: She wanted me to come visit her, and I really

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Speaker 3: wasn't comfortable in traveling at that point.

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Speaker 2: All in my family we have stuff wrong with us.

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Speaker 3: You know they were really concerned about people like us

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Speaker 3: having COVID, So I declined the offer, And you know, I'll.

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Speaker 2: Never know what would have happened if I had gone.

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Speaker 1: As the COVID pandemic took over everybody's lives, the friends

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Speaker 1: continued to communicate as they normally did, texting, keeping up

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Speaker 1: with each other's social media, and it was on Facebook

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Speaker 1: where Nicole saw that her friend wasn't feeling well. First

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Speaker 1: it was a post on Sunday, March twenty ninth about

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Speaker 1: a migraine, Day two of.

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Speaker 7: A bad migraine, taking more meds and turning down my

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Speaker 7: phone volume so I can sleep.

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Speaker 5: I'll catch up with everyone later.

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Speaker 1: Migraines were a fairly regular occurrence for Teleina, so Nicole

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Speaker 1: didn't think much of it, But a day later, on Monday,

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Speaker 1: March thirtieth, she saw a post about Teleina's headache worsening

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Speaker 1: my weekend.

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Speaker 7: Migrain developed into a fever last night and it is

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Speaker 7: currently hovering around one hundred point five. I'm surfacing long

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Speaker 7: enough to go to the bathroom and get a drink.

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Speaker 5: Then it is back to sleep. All I want to

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Speaker 5: do is sleep.

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Speaker 7: Send your well wishes an energy, but please don't.

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Speaker 5: Expect a response.

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Speaker 7: I called my doctor and was told to stay in

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Speaker 7: bed and stay hydrated and self medicate and call back

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Speaker 7: or go to the er. If my tempreach is one

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Speaker 7: oh two. I think Oklahoma's medical system is stretched thin

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Speaker 7: right now. Everyone stay safe, healthy, and please practice social distancing.

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Speaker 7: If you don't live with someone, don't visit them.

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Speaker 1: Nicole texted Tolena a few times checking up on her,

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Speaker 1: but didn't hear back. A week went by, and then

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Speaker 1: on April seventh, came to Lena's cryptic post.

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Speaker 5: Hey everyone, I'm on day nine of this virus. I've

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Speaker 5: made arrangements to spend some quality alone time. After I

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Speaker 5: post this, I am turning off my phone.

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Speaker 3: Tolena would occasionally that once a year go on a

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Speaker 3: sbatical where she didn't talk to anybody, and she's pretty

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Speaker 3: strict about it. She would let everybody know, if I

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Speaker 3: don't answer my phone, this is why, and I'm just

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Speaker 3: going to go off somewhere for a couple of days

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Speaker 3: and be with myself. It was just a spiritual time

347
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Speaker 3: for her to get herself together and kind of reconnect

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Speaker 3: with herself. She's a big giving person, so I think

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Speaker 3: people that give to a lot of people need that

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Speaker 3: little bit of downtown.

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Speaker 1: Knew that her friend prized her solitude, but after a

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Speaker 1: few days without hearing from Telena, she had a feeling

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Speaker 1: that something wasn't right.

354
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Speaker 3: At the time, I was laid off from work, so

355
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Speaker 3: I didn't have that much to preoccupy myself with.

356
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Speaker 2: I wasn't leaving the house because of COVID.

357
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Speaker 3: Every morning I would wake up and check Facebook and

358
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Speaker 3: check the phone and text her and call her, and

359
00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:25,560
Speaker 3: I didn't hear anything.

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Speaker 1: Nicole was in lockdown in Tennessee, hundreds of miles away

361
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Speaker 1: from Tellina's home in Wagner, Oklahoma. Feeling antsy, Nicole started

362
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Speaker 1: reaching out to Tellina's friends, some of them also in

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Speaker 1: far flung states, others in the same town as Telena.

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Speaker 3: I kept just kind of asking everybody anyone else thinks

365
00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:48,040
Speaker 3: this is strange?

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Speaker 2: And everybody's like, no, no, this is you know, this

367
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:53,120
Speaker 2: is Toulna. This is how she acts.

368
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Speaker 3: You know that experiment where they show people that are

369
00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:58,720
Speaker 3: in a room and there's smoke coming out of the grate.

370
00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:02,080
Speaker 3: Nobody does anything because they're all kind of looking around

371
00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:03,960
Speaker 3: to see if someone else is going to do something

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00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:05,159
Speaker 3: that was.

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Speaker 2: Where we were.

374
00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:10,960
Speaker 3: People were just worrying in their own space. We're all

375
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,320
Speaker 3: just waiting for someone else to do something, or for

376
00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:17,280
Speaker 3: a word from you know, Telena. But the more time

377
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Speaker 3: that went on, it just didn't Her story didn't make sense.

378
00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:23,920
Speaker 1: Nicole wasn't sure what to do, but she felt compelled

379
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:28,200
Speaker 1: to at least do something, and so one night, out

380
00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:32,439
Speaker 1: of desperation, I just, you know, I listened to this

381
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Speaker 1: little podcast.

382
00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:36,679
Speaker 2: I had no idea how popular it was.

383
00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:39,240
Speaker 3: I just knew that I liked listening to it, and

384
00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:40,800
Speaker 3: so I thought I would go on there and see

385
00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:44,160
Speaker 3: if anybody else thought it was strange. So I typed

386
00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:48,440
Speaker 3: out a little message and posted it, went to sleep,

387
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:52,919
Speaker 3: and I woke up two thousands of replies. Some of

388
00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:55,560
Speaker 3: them were from my friends, people actually knew that I

389
00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:59,640
Speaker 3: didn't know also listened to this podcast. And then some

390
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:03,320
Speaker 3: of them were from strangers, and none of them were

391
00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:04,679
Speaker 3: more strange than Yes.

392
00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:14,440
Speaker 4: It sounded fishy. You've read the post right, It sounded

393
00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:15,840
Speaker 4: really weird.

394
00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:20,240
Speaker 1: Making her whipped coffee in Minnesota just sees Nichole's plea

395
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,880
Speaker 1: for help and her immediate response is bullshit.

396
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,720
Speaker 4: The way Nicole explained in the post was very weird.

397
00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:30,040
Speaker 4: And then obviously I'm bored. It's COVID and I can't

398
00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:32,400
Speaker 4: go anywhere or do anything. So I creep on Nichole's

399
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,280
Speaker 4: Facebook and see that she has another friend who's missing

400
00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:38,399
Speaker 4: as well, and I was like, there's no way you

401
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:41,199
Speaker 4: know two people who just up and disappeared. So I

402
00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:43,600
Speaker 4: called her out on it. I called her a liar.

403
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,119
Speaker 1: Nicole had turned to the Internet for help looking for

404
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:57,840
Speaker 1: her missing friend, and now she was being accused of

405
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:02,440
Speaker 1: lying or worse, being involved in Telena's disappearance herself.

406
00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:07,760
Speaker 3: I had a friend that her niece had also shown

407
00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:10,919
Speaker 3: up missing in Georgia, and I didn't really know the niece,

408
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:13,920
Speaker 3: but if someone you know is missing someone they love,

409
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:16,000
Speaker 3: you share it. So I had shared that, and I

410
00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,920
Speaker 3: guess Jess had gone back and looked at my history

411
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:22,000
Speaker 3: and she kind of thought that maybe I was the

412
00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:25,280
Speaker 3: one responsible and had no qualm in telling me. So

413
00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,080
Speaker 3: she said that she was going to be my worst nightmare.

414
00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:31,359
Speaker 4: I messaged Nicole on Facebook and I said, hey, you

415
00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:33,760
Speaker 4: sound like you're lying, Like how many missing people can

416
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:34,080
Speaker 4: you know?

417
00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:34,760
Speaker 5: Right?

418
00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:39,719
Speaker 1: Nicole is taken aback by Jess's aggressive messages, but instead

419
00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:44,720
Speaker 1: of just ignoring this internet stranger she engages. She offers

420
00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:47,520
Speaker 1: to connect Jess on a call with some of Talina's

421
00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:52,359
Speaker 1: friends in Oklahoma who can verify nicole story, and Jess

422
00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:54,240
Speaker 1: she backs down pretty quick.

423
00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:57,840
Speaker 2: She called me back and she said I wanted to apologize.

424
00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:00,840
Speaker 3: And you know, I appreciate that so much about her

425
00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:05,359
Speaker 3: that she was just so ready to apologize.

426
00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:10,600
Speaker 1: Nicole accepts her apology, and almost immediately their hostile encounter

427
00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:14,119
Speaker 1: transforms into the start of a real friendship.

428
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:17,119
Speaker 4: Nicole will post on my Facebook, so happy you became

429
00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:18,080
Speaker 4: my beautiful nightmare.

430
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:18,639
Speaker 2: I love you.

431
00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:22,600
Speaker 1: Nicole sees a tenacity in Jess that could be helpful

432
00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:25,040
Speaker 1: in finding to Lena, and the two of them start

433
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:26,640
Speaker 1: working together that day.

434
00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:29,840
Speaker 3: I have to say, Jess is a force being reckoned with.

435
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:35,560
Speaker 3: She's a woman of unwavering determination, and that insensity can

436
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:38,680
Speaker 3: catch you off guard. She was unwilling to let anyone

437
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:41,680
Speaker 3: or anything get in her way. It made us a

438
00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:45,679
Speaker 3: very good pair because she could be very direct and

439
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:49,959
Speaker 3: very not cold, but just determined, and I have a

440
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:52,919
Speaker 3: more gentle kind approach to people.

441
00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:55,560
Speaker 4: She made me feel like I could help and we

442
00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:58,000
Speaker 4: could figure it out, and we could solve what happened.

443
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:03,080
Speaker 4: You know, we can maybe or at least catch the

444
00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:11,359
Speaker 4: person today.

445
00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:15,640
Speaker 1: Jess is not the only Internet stranger activated by Nicole's

446
00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:20,119
Speaker 1: post about her missing friend. It gets hundreds of comments

447
00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:24,080
Speaker 1: from people all over the US. Most of them are

448
00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:28,159
Speaker 1: just there to stir the pot, instigate fights, entertain themselves,

449
00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 1: but some of them seem to actually want to find

450
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:35,879
Speaker 1: out the truth. Jess Corral's a select few into a

451
00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:41,399
Speaker 1: private group. There's Rosie, who, like Jess, is also a

452
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:44,840
Speaker 1: mom in her mid thirties. She and her husband own

453
00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:46,600
Speaker 1: a welding business in Ohio.

454
00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:51,840
Speaker 8: I commented on the post, this doesn't sound good. You

455
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:55,639
Speaker 8: know you need to contact the police. I had a

456
00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:59,760
Speaker 8: woman reach out to me named Jess via Facebook Messenger

457
00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:04,800
Speaker 8: and in the nutshell she was basically like, Hey, this.

458
00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:05,960
Speaker 2: Sounds really weird to me.

459
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:09,040
Speaker 8: You and I kind of sound like we have the

460
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:13,320
Speaker 8: same vibe about her needing to contact the police.

461
00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:15,360
Speaker 2: Do you want to talk about this?

462
00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:18,480
Speaker 8: I don't know what it was that made me say yes,

463
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:22,080
Speaker 8: other than I was intrigued and I thought, well, what

464
00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,760
Speaker 8: could the harm be? I was bored because of COVID

465
00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:29,800
Speaker 8: and I was like sure, And then born girls kind

466
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:32,960
Speaker 8: of joined the group. And we just sort of started

467
00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:40,200
Speaker 8: armchair detectiving this situation, and I was like, this is crazy.

468
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:44,240
Speaker 1: This is Brittany younger than the others. She's in her

469
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:48,520
Speaker 1: early twenties and works at a bank in Arkansas. Brittany's

470
00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:51,560
Speaker 1: eager to jump in and help because she too feels

471
00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:53,040
Speaker 1: drawn to Teleina's story.

472
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:56,560
Speaker 6: It seemed like she was like a really sweet person

473
00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:00,160
Speaker 6: and she was really easy to like. It didn't seem

474
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:04,639
Speaker 6: like anyone had any hatred towards her. She seemed like

475
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:08,880
Speaker 6: a nice person that everyone loved. When there's mysteries to stuff,

476
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:13,760
Speaker 6: there's some people that just have to know why and how.

477
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:16,639
Speaker 6: And I'm definitely one of those people. I have all

478
00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:18,040
Speaker 6: the questions all the time.

479
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:28,480
Speaker 1: And so organically, cosmically, this group of online sleuths comes

480
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:33,120
Speaker 1: together and forms a new Facebook page called find Telenazar

481
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:38,680
Speaker 1: Nicole and Tennessee, Jess in Minnesota, Rosie and Ohio, Brittany

482
00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:42,880
Speaker 1: in Arkansas, and more joining by the hour. These women

483
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:46,800
Speaker 1: are strangers thrust together by their desire to solve the

484
00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:51,959
Speaker 1: mystery of what happened to Telena. Here's Jess, the ringleader.

485
00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:54,480
Speaker 4: We ended up staying up until like four o'clock in

486
00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:56,680
Speaker 4: the morning that first night, talking to each other via

487
00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 4: Facebook Messenger and then starting little side messages all this

488
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:04,000
Speaker 4: person's this or It was almost high school asque to

489
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:06,920
Speaker 4: be honest with you, just kind of like being a

490
00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:10,840
Speaker 4: little bit bitchy about who who was saying and what

491
00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:11,360
Speaker 4: we believe.

492
00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,720
Speaker 1: The online sleuths, even from that first night, are exhilarated.

493
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,280
Speaker 1: They're energized for the first time since the pandemic slowed

494
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:24,360
Speaker 1: the world down and made their lives very small. Suddenly

495
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:27,280
Speaker 1: they have a distraction and a purpose.

496
00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:30,000
Speaker 6: It kind of felt like I was living out one

497
00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 6: of my fantasy dreams of being a detective. It kind

498
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:36,800
Speaker 6: of gave me something to do and something else to

499
00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:40,640
Speaker 6: think about rather than what's going to happen to the world.

500
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:44,360
Speaker 8: We just wanted to help this person, help Telena and

501
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:46,160
Speaker 8: find her, like where was she?

502
00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,520
Speaker 1: In those early hours. As this new group of friends

503
00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:55,800
Speaker 1: start to gell, the online sleuths returned to Tolena's post.

504
00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:59,000
Speaker 5: I made the decision at the onset that if it

505
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:02,360
Speaker 5: got bad enough I would not go to the hospital.

506
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:06,240
Speaker 2: So it just felt a little off. It felt weird.

507
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:09,040
Speaker 1: The post itself is odd.

508
00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:11,680
Speaker 5: I didn't want to be talked out of this plan.

509
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:15,640
Speaker 1: But the comments left by Tolina's friends it.

510
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:17,920
Speaker 2: Was just really strange.

511
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:22,520
Speaker 8: And her friend's reactions to it also felt like they

512
00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:26,080
Speaker 8: were concerned, but people were afraid to kind of pull

513
00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:30,120
Speaker 8: the trigger and you know, get something going about trying

514
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:31,520
Speaker 8: to find out where their friend was.

515
00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:36,320
Speaker 1: Jess is judging these people. To her, they are at

516
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:40,880
Speaker 1: best bad friends, at worst potential suspects.

517
00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:43,320
Speaker 4: Like friends of hers all kind of saying well, we

518
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:46,680
Speaker 4: wish you well and we love you and we respect

519
00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:49,760
Speaker 4: your privacy. And I'm like, what in the hell, what

520
00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:52,000
Speaker 4: do you mean. This woman's basically saying she's going to

521
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:54,760
Speaker 4: go kill herself in the woods, and you guys are like, okay,

522
00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,640
Speaker 4: see you later, have fun. If that was my friend,

523
00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:00,000
Speaker 4: I would be flipping over rocks trying to find her.

524
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:01,480
Speaker 4: I'd call the National Guard.

525
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:02,240
Speaker 2: I would be out there.

526
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:04,360
Speaker 4: I would not be sitting there wishing her well on

527
00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:05,480
Speaker 4: her journey.

528
00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:11,880
Speaker 1: And so Jess, Rosie, Brittany, and Nicole they get busy

529
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:12,600
Speaker 1: from Afar.

530
00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:15,680
Speaker 8: There were a lot of secrets that were very hard

531
00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:19,000
Speaker 8: to find, and no one wanted to talk about anything.

532
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:22,880
Speaker 1: Day and night. They research online and talk to anyone

533
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:24,320
Speaker 1: who will pick up the phone.

534
00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:26,760
Speaker 4: I probably spent twelve fourteen hours on my phone or

535
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:30,200
Speaker 4: computer a day talking to people, cold calling strangers.

536
00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:32,120
Speaker 1: They trust no one.

537
00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:35,440
Speaker 2: They're not telling us the truth, like there's they're lying.

538
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,680
Speaker 2: There's no truth to what these people are saying. Don't

539
00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:39,760
Speaker 2: believe them.

540
00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:43,360
Speaker 1: And what they uncover shocks them to their core.

541
00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:46,720
Speaker 3: Rarely do people just drop off the face of the

542
00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:48,760
Speaker 3: earth and disappear.

543
00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:53,000
Speaker 1: This season on What Happened to Tealinazar?

544
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:57,720
Speaker 6: How in the world can somebody even contemplate doing something?

545
00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:01,400
Speaker 8: How evil one person really be?

546
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:05,200
Speaker 3: She's always willing to help somebody, and that was her

547
00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:08,400
Speaker 3: downfall as well as one of her greatest straints.

548
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:11,840
Speaker 5: When I read the details I collapse.

549
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 6: I would agree that I have never had a case

550
00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:16,480
Speaker 6: involving these kinds of details.

551
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:18,880
Speaker 4: And I was like, well, literally not very polite of me.

552
00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:20,760
Speaker 4: What the how are you people into? What is going

553
00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:21,240
Speaker 4: on here?

554
00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:26,760
Speaker 3: This little group of women that came together to look

555
00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:28,600
Speaker 3: for Telena will always have my heart.

556
00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:31,800
Speaker 2: I just had to know how did this happen?

557
00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:39,880
Speaker 1: What Happened to Teleinazar is a production of iHeart Podcasts.

558
00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:44,320
Speaker 1: It's written, reported, and hosted by me Melissa Jelson, with

559
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:48,800
Speaker 1: writing and story editing by Lauren Hansen. Our executive producer

560
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:54,280
Speaker 1: is Ryan Murdoch. For iHeart Podcasts, executive producers are Jason

561
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:58,880
Speaker 1: English and Carl Catel. Fact checking by Savannah Hugley. Zoe

562
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:04,200
Speaker 1: Denkla is ourssociate producer. Jeremy Thal is our editor. Original

563
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:08,120
Speaker 1: music by Aaron Kaufman with additional music by Jeremy Thal.

564
00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:12,640
Speaker 1: Episodes are mixed and mastered by Carl Katle. Voice acting

565
00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:16,920
Speaker 1: by Lizzie Gore, Chris Ferry, Stephanie Frame, Pete Monica, and

566
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:21,240
Speaker 1: Molly Maslin. Our logo is designed by Edo Moore. Thanks

567
00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:31,800
Speaker 1: so much for listening, Ready to hear more, Remember you

568
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:35,240
Speaker 1: can get access to one hundred percent ad free episodes

569
00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:40,000
Speaker 1: with an iHeart True Crime Plus subscription, available exclusively on

570
00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:44,920
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts. So open your Apple Podcasts app search for

571
00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:49,800
Speaker 1: iHeart True Crime Plus and subscribe today