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Speaker 1: Hunting for Answers is a production of the Black Effect

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Speaker 1: Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Welcome to Hunting for Answers, a

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Speaker 1: true crime podcast. I'm your host Hunter, and today we're

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Speaker 1: talking about a case out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It all

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Speaker 1: started in June twenty twenty two, when a fifteen year

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Speaker 1: old girl was supposed to go get her work permit

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Speaker 1: with her father that afternoon, but when her father arrived

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Speaker 1: to pick her up that day.

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Speaker 2: She was nowhere to be found. That was three years ago.

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Speaker 1: What police would discover would raise terrifying questions about what

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Speaker 1: really happened to this vulnerable teenager. This is the story

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Speaker 1: of Jenia Walker. Jenia Walker was born on May fifteenth,

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Speaker 1: two thousand and seven.

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Speaker 2: By June twenty twenty.

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Speaker 1: Two, she was a fifteen year old girl living on

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Speaker 1: Milwaukee's North Side. At the time of her disappearance, she

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Speaker 1: stood five feet three inches tall and weighed one hundred

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Speaker 1: and thirty pounds. Her mother described her as a perfect daughter.

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Speaker 1: She was angelic, soft spoken, and very intelligent. But Jania

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Speaker 1: was also struggling at the time. You see, she had

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Speaker 1: been diagnosed with depression and post traumatic stress disorder. Her

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Speaker 1: therapist knew that she was having some difficulties, but even

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Speaker 1: they couldn't have predicted what was about to happen. June

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Speaker 1: twenty third, twenty twenty two, it should have.

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Speaker 2: Been an exciting day for Jenia.

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Speaker 1: She was scheduled to go with her father to get

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Speaker 1: her work permit for her first job at a pizzeria, but.

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Speaker 2: It appeared as if some thing was troubling Jenia. That day.

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Speaker 1: At two thirty pm, a neighbor's ring camera captured her

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Speaker 1: walking away from her mother's North Side Milwaukee apartment. She

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Speaker 1: was alone at three twenty seven pm. Phone record show

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Speaker 1: Jenia called her therapist. Later that evening, she sent a

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Speaker 1: text message to the same therapist. The message was short

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Speaker 1: and to the point, she expressed running away from home.

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Speaker 1: That was the last communication anyone would ever receive from

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Speaker 1: Jenia Walker. Her mother also stated how she believes Jenia

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Speaker 1: was definitely groomed and lured away. When Jania's father, Jonathan

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Speaker 1: arrived that day at four pm to pick up his daughter,

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Speaker 1: of course we know that she was gone. He tried

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Speaker 1: calling her phone, it went straight to voicemail. Her mother,

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Speaker 1: Tanisha Howard, tried the same thing again, nothing but the

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Speaker 1: voicemail That's when they knew something was terribly wrong. Jania

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Speaker 1: had never run away before, and despite her mental health challenges,

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Speaker 1: this behavior was completely out of character for her. On

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Speaker 1: June twenty eighth, five days after Jania disappeared, her mother

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Speaker 1: walked into a Milwaukee police station to update authorities with

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Speaker 1: disturbing information she had discovered. Tanisha had been digging through

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Speaker 1: her daughter's online activity. The teen was active on sites

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Speaker 1: like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, YouTube, Gmail, as well as

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Speaker 1: some other websites for adults. However, it wasn't just the

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Speaker 1: platforms that were concerning, it was who Jenia was talking to.

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Speaker 1: When Jania's older sister, Mackenzie Thompson gained access to her

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Speaker 1: Snapchat account, she discovered what police reports described as disturbing videos.

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Speaker 1: Every single friend on Jenia's Snapchat account appeared to be

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Speaker 1: older men, some located nationally, others internationally. The majority of

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Speaker 1: her messages had been deleted, but the videos dated all

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Speaker 1: the way back to January twenty twenty and ended in

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Speaker 1: June twenty twenty two, right when Jenia disappear. Among all

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Speaker 1: of the online connections, one name kept coming up, Zach.

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Speaker 1: Police reports described Zach as a white male with red

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Speaker 1: hair and a beard from Pennsylvania. Jania's mother said her

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Speaker 1: daughter was very obsessed with this man. In twenty eighteen,

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Speaker 1: when Jenia was just eleven years old, she had written

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Speaker 1: a letter to Zach. The letter had been addressed to

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Speaker 1: a location in Pennsylvania, but it was never mailed. When

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Speaker 1: Jania disappeared, that letter had also disappeared too. Her mother

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Speaker 1: believes Jenia might have taken it with her. Police eventually

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Speaker 1: tracked down Zach at that Pennsylvania address. When interviewed, he

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Speaker 1: admitted to speaking with Jenia on Snapchat when he was

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Speaker 1: approximately seventeen years old, but he denied ever meeting her

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Speaker 1: or knowing where she might be. As investigators dug deeper

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Speaker 1: into Jenia's final months, they discovered she had also been

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Speaker 1: preparing for something else. Jania had been watching YouTube videos

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Speaker 1: about doomsday prepping and living off the grid. She was

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Speaker 1: researching survival skills like how to survive in disasters. She

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Speaker 1: had also recently read two books about learning the German language.

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Speaker 2: In the months.

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Speaker 1: Before her disappearance, Jania had also lost a significant amount

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Speaker 1: of weight. Her mother had taken her to the doctor

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Speaker 1: and scheduled a follow up appointment with a specialist, but

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Speaker 1: that appointment never happened because Jenia vanished first. When Jania

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Speaker 1: left that day, she didn't take any of.

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Speaker 2: Her own clothing.

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Speaker 1: Instead, she took all boys clothing and possibly some of

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Speaker 1: her brother's clothes.

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Speaker 2: She may have also taken.

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Speaker 1: Her Chrome HP laptop, the reason Jenia had stopped living

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Speaker 1: with her father. Jonathan reveals just how deep her online

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Speaker 1: relationships had become. One day, he walked into his daughter's

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Speaker 1: bedroom unannounced and heard her say that she loved a

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Speaker 1: man who was on her iPad. When he looked at

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Speaker 1: the screen, he saw an older, white male. Jenia immediately

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Speaker 1: closed the iPad, and the only way to open it

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Speaker 1: was with her fingerprint. Jonathan reportedly considered waiting for his

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Speaker 1: daughter to fall asleep that night so he could access

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Speaker 1: the device, but instead he called Jenia's mother. When police

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Speaker 1: became involved, they said they would need to get a

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Speaker 1: search warrant. Jonathan decided to just let Jenia live with

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Speaker 1: her mother instead. He didn't want to risk his home

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Speaker 1: being gransacked by authorities. Her father also found entries in

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Speaker 1: Jenia's diary. One page read of how she was glad

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Speaker 1: that her father didn't get into her iPad that night.

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Speaker 1: During his police interview, Jonathan broke.

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Speaker 2: Down and began crying.

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Speaker 1: The evidence suggests Jenia might have known she was going

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Speaker 1: to disappear. On the day she went missing, Jenia logged

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Speaker 1: out of her Facebook mobile app. Her email records appeared

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Speaker 1: to show she had deactivated her Find MyPhone app on

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Speaker 1: both her iPad and iPhone. She had also been turning

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Speaker 1: off her location services on her phone. Jonathan had noticed

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Speaker 1: that Jenia was making videos at three seventeen am while

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Speaker 1: at her mother's house. She had been using massive amounts

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Speaker 1: of Internet data, which her father believed was from apps

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Speaker 1: she was using to communicate with people online. But perhaps

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Speaker 1: most telling, Jenia's therapist had told her mother that Jenia

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Speaker 1: did express the intention to run away now. In the

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Speaker 1: weeks following Jenia's disappearance, her mother, Tanisha, became the target

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Speaker 1: of very cruel scammers. One morning, at two forty five am,

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Speaker 1: Tanisha woke up to a text message from an unidentified

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Speaker 1: person calling from a Google number. The person claimed to

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Speaker 1: know where her daughter was and said Jenia had been

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Speaker 1: sexually assaulted but was still alive. The person demanded five

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars first in bitcoin, then through cash app in

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Speaker 1: exchange for Jenia's location. When Tanisha couldn't comply with the demands,

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Speaker 1: the person said, stop playing with me and threatened to

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Speaker 1: stop talking. Tanisha also received calls from inmates at prisons

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Speaker 1: in Richmond, Virginia, and Charlotte, North Carolina. These calls appeared

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Speaker 1: to be unrelated to Jenia's case, but further added to

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Speaker 1: the family's torment. Police advised Tanisha that these were likely scamps,

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Speaker 1: predators trying to take advantage of a family's desperation. Milwaukee

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Speaker 1: police pursued several leads in Jenia's case. Her photos were

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Speaker 1: compared against a confidential Debta base to see if she

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Speaker 1: appeared on any human trafficking sites.

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Speaker 2: The search yielded no results.

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Speaker 1: Investigators followed up on the mysterious addresses and phone numbers

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Speaker 1: found in Jania's iCloud notes, but these leads didn't produce

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Speaker 1: evidence either. Police have also investigated various phone numbers that

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Speaker 1: appeared to be connected to Jenia, including one associated with

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Speaker 1: the name Zach that was sent to her through Snapchat.

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Speaker 1: Despite all of these efforts, Jania Walker remains missing today,

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Speaker 1: more than three years after Jania Walker vanished. Her case

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Speaker 1: remains open and active. In twenty twenty four, the National

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Speaker 1: Center for Missing and Exploited Children created an age progression

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Speaker 1: image showing what Jania might look like today as a

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Speaker 1: seventeen year old. The case has all the signs of

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Speaker 1: online predation. Did someone convince Jenia to run away with

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Speaker 1: promises of love or.

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Speaker 2: A better life? Was she trafficked? Is she still alive.

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Speaker 1: Somewhere or did her trust in the wrong person lead

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Speaker 1: to something darker. Jania's disappearance has left a family shattered

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Speaker 1: and a community still searching for answers. Her mother describes

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Speaker 1: Jania as someone who was socially awkward and soft spoken,

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Speaker 1: characteristics that may have made her an easy target for

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Speaker 1: online predators. Every day that passes without answers is another

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Speaker 1: day of agony for her loved ones. My thoughts and

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Speaker 1: prayers are with the Walker family, loved ones, and everyone

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Speaker 1: who continues the search for Jenia. Anyone with information about

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Speaker 1: Jenia's whereabouts should contact the Milwaukee Police Department or the

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Speaker 1: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

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Speaker 2: You can find their.

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Speaker 1: Contact information in the description box below. As we close

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Speaker 1: out this episode, don't forget to click the follow button

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Speaker 1: to stay updated on Jenia's case and others like it.

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Speaker 1: Be sure to subscribe to Hunting for Answers on YouTube

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Speaker 1: Prime updates. And if you enjoyed this story, leave us

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Speaker 1: a five star rating. Thank you so much for joining

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Speaker 1: us on another episode.

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Speaker 2: Until next time.

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Speaker 1: The sac

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Speaker 2: Sep Secla sect