WEBVTT - 14 Years Gone 0:00:08.245 --> 0:00:14.645 School of Humans. We can also drive black car range 0:00:15.445 --> 0:00:19.205 if this one, it'll make it, make it. This is 0:00:19.285 --> 0:00:31.965 my grandma's car. Every time I drive up the steep 0:00:32.005 --> 0:00:35.685 and curvy Arkansas Road into the Ozark Mountains, I have 0:00:35.765 --> 0:00:39.245 two simultaneous thoughts. See look, look at these houses. You know, 0:00:39.525 --> 0:00:43.925 the woods are beautiful and they're also terrifying. Things are 0:00:43.965 --> 0:00:46.525 kind of falling apart. And also there's a lot of 0:00:46.565 --> 0:00:49.645 space between a lot of these vacant houses. I've been 0:00:49.645 --> 0:00:51.605 coming up here with my family since I was a kid, 0:00:52.045 --> 0:00:54.685 and I have a lot of happy memories here. But 0:00:54.765 --> 0:00:58.005 let's face it, there's a reason why so many horror 0:00:58.085 --> 0:01:02.605 movies are setting cabins in the woods. Sometimes bad things 0:01:02.645 --> 0:01:05.205 happen when no one is around to hear you scream. 0:01:05.605 --> 0:01:09.125 We have no cell phone reception. Yeah, that's all. It 0:01:09.245 --> 0:01:12.285 was on this desolate stretch of Highway nine in the 0:01:12.285 --> 0:01:16.445 Ozarks between Mountain View and Melbourne that on September twenty seventh, 0:01:16.485 --> 0:01:19.725 two thousand and four, searchers found the body of twenty 0:01:19.765 --> 0:01:25.365 two year old Rebecca Gould. Rebecca was beautiful, popular, and 0:01:25.445 --> 0:01:28.365 full of life, and her killing shooken area where the 0:01:28.445 --> 0:01:32.725 murder rate was pretty much zero It's been fourteen years 0:01:33.445 --> 0:01:42.325 and Rebecca's killer has never been found. The murder has 0:01:42.365 --> 0:01:45.285 become one of the most notorious cold cases in the region. 0:01:45.805 --> 0:01:49.805 But for me, this case is personal. I have a 0:01:49.885 --> 0:01:53.565 long history with this area. My dad and my little sister, 0:01:53.645 --> 0:01:56.725 Caroline still live in Mountain View. She went to high 0:01:56.725 --> 0:01:59.565 school with Rebecca's younger sister, Danielle, and they are still 0:01:59.605 --> 0:02:03.605 close friends. Even after I became a writer and private 0:02:03.685 --> 0:02:07.405 investigator and moved to New York City, Rebecca's murder continued 0:02:07.445 --> 0:02:10.205 to haunt me. Every time I went home to visit 0:02:10.245 --> 0:02:14.845 my family, I would hear more rumors about the case. Occasionally, 0:02:14.965 --> 0:02:16.885 a news station would do an update on the case, 0:02:17.565 --> 0:02:22.885 illustrated with Rebecca blonde, dazzling smile with her white fluffy 0:02:22.925 --> 0:02:26.165 dog in her lap. But over the years the leads 0:02:26.165 --> 0:02:29.485 were fewer and farther between. I couldn't figure it out. 0:02:30.405 --> 0:02:33.845 If everyone in town thought they knew who killed Rebecca, 0:02:34.285 --> 0:02:39.965 why hadn't her case been solved. A few months ago, 0:02:40.365 --> 0:02:43.325 I came back to the Ozarks. I wanted to catch 0:02:43.325 --> 0:02:46.525 Rebecca's killer. I was supposed to stay for two weeks, 0:02:46.925 --> 0:02:50.605 but I never left, and at some point my investigation 0:02:50.965 --> 0:02:55.325 crossed over into an obsession. I'm not stopping until I 0:02:55.325 --> 0:03:01.485 get justice for Rebecca. I'm Catherine Townsend and this is 0:03:01.525 --> 0:03:37.965 Helen Gone. The last time Rebecca was seen alive was 0:03:37.965 --> 0:03:40.565 a week before her body was found on September twentieth, 0:03:40.645 --> 0:03:44.045 two thousand and four. It was a Monday morning, just 0:03:44.125 --> 0:03:47.125 after eight am. Rebecca had been staying at her boyfriend 0:03:47.165 --> 0:03:50.525 Casey's house for the weekend. Rebecca gave Casey a ride 0:03:50.525 --> 0:03:53.525 to work in her black nineteen ninety seven Chevy Cavalier. 0:03:54.725 --> 0:03:57.525 Casey was a cook at the Sonic in Melbourne. Rebecca 0:03:57.525 --> 0:03:59.365 had met him about a year earlier when she worked 0:03:59.365 --> 0:04:03.645 there as a car hop. But Rebecca's days of delivering 0:04:03.645 --> 0:04:06.565 burgers on roller skates were over. She had recently moved 0:04:06.565 --> 0:04:09.125 into an apartment in Fayetteville with her sister Danielle, and 0:04:09.205 --> 0:04:13.165 was starting college at Northwest Arkansas. After dropping Casey off, 0:04:13.245 --> 0:04:15.765 she stopped at the Possum Trot gas station in Melbourne, 0:04:15.925 --> 0:04:19.285 where she bought a breakfast, sandwich and coffee. Rebecca's plan 0:04:19.365 --> 0:04:21.725 had been to drive back to Casey's, pack her stuff 0:04:21.765 --> 0:04:24.645 and meet Danielle to drive back to school. When she 0:04:24.685 --> 0:04:27.005 didn't show up that afternoon, Danielle and the rest of 0:04:27.045 --> 0:04:33.285 her family became alarmed. The next day, police showed up 0:04:33.285 --> 0:04:38.325 at Casey's house. They found Rebecca's car parked outside. Inside, 0:04:38.405 --> 0:04:41.565 they found her cell phone, purse, all of her clothes, 0:04:41.645 --> 0:04:46.125 and her dog Lady. There was no sign of Rebecca, 0:04:46.405 --> 0:04:49.725 but there were ominous signs that something very bad had happened. 0:04:49.725 --> 0:04:53.165 There a blood soaked mattress that had been flipped over, 0:04:53.925 --> 0:04:59.205 her uneaten breakfast sandwich, a washing machine full of blood. 0:05:01.485 --> 0:05:03.965 Over the years, I've heard a lot of rumors. I 0:05:03.965 --> 0:05:06.165 heard there was a party over the weekend, a fight 0:05:06.205 --> 0:05:09.485 with a girl, a jealous lover. Someone even told me 0:05:09.525 --> 0:05:12.485 that Rebecca was kidnapped, chained up, and held hostage in 0:05:12.525 --> 0:05:16.205 a horse trailer. So our first job will be separating 0:05:16.285 --> 0:05:21.405 fact from fiction. Taylor and James, who are both working 0:05:21.445 --> 0:05:23.645 on the podcast, have come to Arkansas to help me. 0:05:24.405 --> 0:05:27.845 They started out working on sound and logistics, but quickly 0:05:27.885 --> 0:05:30.645 got sucked down the internet rabbit hole of topics, boards 0:05:30.685 --> 0:05:34.085 and web slues. I know this look. They've been sucked 0:05:34.085 --> 0:05:38.285 into the case too. Let's start with what we know 0:05:38.605 --> 0:05:41.445 based on newspaper reports and the murder board. Are brought 0:05:41.445 --> 0:05:45.485 with me from Manhattan, police released almost no details on 0:05:45.525 --> 0:05:48.485 this case, and what's out there publicly is hard to 0:05:48.485 --> 0:05:51.525 find a lot of it's not available online. So we 0:05:51.605 --> 0:05:53.685 head to the library to look up old editions of 0:05:53.725 --> 0:05:57.365 the newspaper on microfiche backpacks of persons? Do you need 0:05:57.405 --> 0:05:59.925 to be out here in lockers though? Okay? And there 0:05:59.965 --> 0:06:10.645 are four I don't know a lot of factable ones 0:06:10.685 --> 0:06:23.045 are online. You're just going to go ahead somewhere. What 0:06:23.205 --> 0:06:27.045 days that can you guys? Do? The day in September sixteenth? 0:06:27.165 --> 0:06:33.405 Or was it started with a one? Right? Yeah? So 0:06:33.485 --> 0:06:36.365 she went missing the next day, which would be there, 0:06:36.925 --> 0:06:39.645 so this may have been the first day that she 0:06:39.725 --> 0:06:45.765 was reported missing. Was on Tuesday? Yeah, although again we 0:06:45.805 --> 0:06:48.205 need to we got kind of confirm that because everyone 0:06:48.205 --> 0:06:50.285 tells me different day. Some people say Monday, some people 0:06:50.325 --> 0:06:54.205 say Tuesday. I'm sure the police would at least confirm that. Maybe, 0:06:54.765 --> 0:06:57.805 Oh there's search for one woman can das? Yeah? What 0:06:57.885 --> 0:07:03.685 day is that? Friday? That is Friday twenty fourth and 0:07:03.805 --> 0:07:06.765 you can see a picture of the missing poster. Yeah, 0:07:06.845 --> 0:07:12.205 Rebecca Gould, blonde hair, brown eyes, one hundred and three pounds, 0:07:12.525 --> 0:07:15.245 So Friday the twenty fourth, it made the Baxter Bolton 0:07:17.125 --> 0:07:19.285 According to authorities, she had visited a friend of Guy 0:07:19.285 --> 0:07:21.605 on last weekend and failed to return to Fatball in 0:07:21.645 --> 0:07:23.605 her car with her purse, keys and money, and it 0:07:23.645 --> 0:07:25.325 was found at the friend's house. The friend is not 0:07:25.365 --> 0:07:28.045 considered a suspect of the disappearance, according to Arkansas State 0:07:28.045 --> 0:07:34.045 Police Lieutenant Bill Beach. Yeah, see, in the beginning, it 0:07:34.085 --> 0:07:37.645 was confusing because there was a report that she had 0:07:37.645 --> 0:07:40.645 been seen that afternoon it looks like, but that was 0:07:40.725 --> 0:07:43.005 later found to be not true. So it just kind 0:07:43.005 --> 0:07:45.125 of goes to show like when stories come out after 0:07:45.125 --> 0:07:55.325 the fact, there's often a lot of facts wrong. Official 0:07:55.365 --> 0:07:59.165 suspectfile play there. It is what day is that is 0:07:59.165 --> 0:08:02.885 that the weekend? Yeah, Saturday and Sundays at this for 0:08:03.165 --> 0:08:06.525 quite time, there are several people of interest, no particular suspect, 0:08:07.565 --> 0:08:11.285 So it says here I searched the area Monday morning 0:08:11.325 --> 0:08:13.805 and found the body thirty five feet down the embankment 0:08:13.845 --> 0:08:16.845 of the highway. I think that the George Derrick guy 0:08:16.925 --> 0:08:18.605 knows because he was one of the first people's see 0:08:18.605 --> 0:08:22.085 the body. Since we have no forensics and so few 0:08:22.085 --> 0:08:24.885 details have been revealed about this case, we have to 0:08:24.925 --> 0:08:28.605 focus on victimology. We have to enter the mind of 0:08:28.645 --> 0:08:31.365 the crime victim so that we can understand the relationship 0:08:31.445 --> 0:08:35.325 with her killer or killers. To understand her death, we 0:08:35.405 --> 0:08:37.405 have to go back to the last weekend of her life. 0:08:37.925 --> 0:08:39.765 So we had to talk to the person who knew 0:08:39.765 --> 0:08:43.925 her best, her sister, Danielle starting route to Mountain Home. 0:08:44.685 --> 0:08:48.085 So it was your sister that got you interested in 0:08:48.125 --> 0:08:50.805 this or put this case on your radar in the 0:08:50.845 --> 0:08:54.445 first place. Yeah, I mean I'd read about it, but Carolyn, 0:08:54.645 --> 0:08:57.285 because Carolyen was friends with Danielle, I would hear about 0:08:57.285 --> 0:08:59.645 it more. You know, like over the years, I would 0:08:59.685 --> 0:09:01.925 just kind of hear what was going on, and then 0:09:01.965 --> 0:09:04.165 it was unsolved, and then when I met Danielle, it 0:09:04.245 --> 0:09:08.725 just got really personal. Rebecca was only a year older 0:09:08.765 --> 0:09:12.725 than Danielle. They were best friends. When Danielle talks about 0:09:12.725 --> 0:09:15.405 the day her sister was murdered, it's obvious she's not 0:09:15.485 --> 0:09:20.525 just relaying information about that horrific day. She's reliving it. 0:09:20.525 --> 0:09:22.525 It's sensitive subject matter. She has to talk about her 0:09:22.565 --> 0:09:26.325 sister maybe being sexually assaulted and everything like that. This 0:09:26.445 --> 0:09:27.925 is as close as we're going to get to being 0:09:27.925 --> 0:09:32.525 inside Rebecca's head. In that final forty eight hours on 0:09:32.565 --> 0:09:36.285 the friday before Rebecca disappeared, she and Danielle drove from Fayetteville, 0:09:36.325 --> 0:09:39.045 where they had recently moved into an apartment together, back 0:09:39.045 --> 0:09:41.965 to Mountain View. Like a lot of us at that age, 0:09:42.125 --> 0:09:47.365 Rebecca's life was in transition. Danielle is visibly emotional as 0:09:47.365 --> 0:09:50.205 she remembers the last conversation that she ever had with 0:09:50.245 --> 0:09:53.605 her sister. She remembers that Rebecca was looking forward to 0:09:53.645 --> 0:09:57.085 starting college, into the future, she had her whole life 0:09:57.125 --> 0:10:01.125 ahead of her. When they got to town, the sister 0:10:01.205 --> 0:10:05.005 split up. Danielle stayed with her boyfriend Nick, while Rebecca 0:10:05.045 --> 0:10:08.725 headed out to spend the weekend with Casey. After Rebecca's murder, 0:10:08.885 --> 0:10:11.965 Danielle went on to Mary Nick. They had two daughters, 0:10:12.045 --> 0:10:15.285 but have since separated. She's been through some tough times 0:10:15.405 --> 0:10:19.645 and had health issues that have affected her memory. Despite 0:10:19.645 --> 0:10:22.725 how physically and mentally hard this is for her, she's 0:10:22.805 --> 0:10:28.805 determined to help find her sister's killer. Can you just 0:10:28.805 --> 0:10:30.605 sort of take me through what happened from the time 0:10:30.605 --> 0:10:32.765 that you guys got in the car to when you 0:10:32.885 --> 0:10:35.205 dropped her off and the last time you talked to her. 0:10:36.405 --> 0:10:41.245 We got in the car and we started to drive 0:10:41.365 --> 0:10:47.605 back home. We had a flat tire, like twenty miles 0:10:47.605 --> 0:10:52.805 thirty miles away. She changed it. She could change his higher. Yeah, 0:10:52.845 --> 0:10:58.365 it surprised me. I can't remember if if I drove. 0:10:59.125 --> 0:11:03.525 I probably drove to Nick's house and she, Yeah, she 0:11:03.645 --> 0:11:07.485 probably dropped me off there, and she left to go 0:11:07.605 --> 0:11:10.565 to Casey's and we were going to meet back up 0:11:10.565 --> 0:11:15.805 Monday and go back to Fayebelle. Danielle remembers waiting for Rebecca, 0:11:16.405 --> 0:11:19.045 the sinking feeling in her stomach when her sister never 0:11:19.085 --> 0:11:23.685 showed up. Yeah, we were supposed to meet early that morning, 0:11:23.845 --> 0:11:27.245 and I knew, I think I just knew something was wrong, 0:11:29.045 --> 0:11:33.005 and we'd gotten phone calls, you know, she couldn't be 0:11:33.005 --> 0:11:36.965 found driving out there, Like I mean, I was just 0:11:37.165 --> 0:11:41.965 sick already just driving out there. She remembers driving up 0:11:41.965 --> 0:11:45.125 to Casey's house and seeing the flurry of police activity there. 0:11:45.845 --> 0:11:47.845 That was the moment when she figured out that her 0:11:47.845 --> 0:11:50.485 sister's crash pad was a crime scene. Did you talk 0:11:50.525 --> 0:11:54.325 to her that weekend at all? I don't think it did. 0:11:55.365 --> 0:11:57.605 But that was not unusual, right like for her to 0:11:57.925 --> 0:12:08.445 rise just had to start looking Over the next week, 0:12:08.765 --> 0:12:12.325 police launched a massive man hunt for Rebecca. Friends and 0:12:12.405 --> 0:12:16.045 family papered the town with wanted posters. Hundreds of volunteers 0:12:16.085 --> 0:12:19.085 scoured the woods. It seemed like the whole town was 0:12:19.085 --> 0:12:22.525 looking for Rebecca. Some of them screamed her name so 0:12:22.605 --> 0:12:25.125 that if she was hurt and bleeding in a sinkhole 0:12:25.245 --> 0:12:28.485 or a barn, she would hear them, And on September 0:12:28.525 --> 0:12:35.925 twenty seventh, the search ended. She didn't deserve what happened 0:12:36.165 --> 0:12:40.805 to her. If there was any other way to like 0:12:41.125 --> 0:12:42.805 help get this out there without having to ask you 0:12:42.805 --> 0:12:45.085 and prey through it, you know what, Like, Yeah, I 0:12:45.205 --> 0:12:51.605 know she was a good person. I mean she loved, 0:12:52.245 --> 0:13:01.085 you know, and cared for a lot of people. And sorry, 0:13:01.285 --> 0:13:04.885 it's okay, it's fate, brain. I'm sorry, it's okay. I 0:13:04.925 --> 0:13:08.285 guess I know that you guys were best friends and 0:13:08.445 --> 0:13:12.045 really close, and I'm trying to understand what was going 0:13:12.085 --> 0:13:18.605 on in her life before she died. We had just 0:13:18.845 --> 0:13:21.645 moved to Fayetteville. We were living with Tiffany and my 0:13:21.765 --> 0:13:27.005 other sister, and we were in college. She was trying 0:13:27.005 --> 0:13:31.805 to make her lot better as far as getting into college, 0:13:32.925 --> 0:13:38.925 moving on to Fayetteville, and becoming somebody. Which relationship been 0:13:38.965 --> 0:13:44.845 like with the Isra County Police. I don't contact them. 0:13:44.965 --> 0:13:49.525 I mean, I don't contact anybody other than you. I mean, 0:13:49.565 --> 0:13:52.205 I want it solved, but there's just no point. I mean, 0:13:52.245 --> 0:13:56.125 what would you like to see happen? Someone actually care 0:13:57.645 --> 0:14:05.125 and help us solve it and get the correct people 0:14:07.085 --> 0:14:14.725 that took her life. Is it okay with you? I mean, 0:14:14.845 --> 0:14:18.685 would you be okay with us calling your dad? Yeah? 0:14:18.725 --> 0:14:23.085 That's fun, Like, that's perfectly fun. Okay, And you can 0:14:24.645 --> 0:14:32.165 do anything you want to help, you know, get it solved, 0:14:32.325 --> 0:14:36.565 because it's not fair to no one to lose someone 0:14:36.685 --> 0:14:41.485 and then just to you know, not have any you know, closure. 0:14:48.165 --> 0:14:54.405 I was challenging to listen to. She holds it together 0:14:54.525 --> 0:14:58.325 incredibly well. You can feel it's just the pain in 0:14:58.365 --> 0:15:14.845 her eyes. M Rebecca's body was found down as steep 0:15:14.885 --> 0:15:18.205 Embankment off Highway nine, five miles south of Melbourne, near 0:15:18.245 --> 0:15:21.965 Devil's Knob Wildlife Management Area. Even though the body was 0:15:22.005 --> 0:15:24.125 near the road and just a few miles from the 0:15:24.165 --> 0:15:27.405 Izard County Sheriff's Department, her body was hidden by a 0:15:27.405 --> 0:15:31.165 thick wall of trees. It's a day that local journalist 0:15:31.245 --> 0:15:35.245 George Jared, who covered the case extensively, will never forget 0:15:36.445 --> 0:15:39.925 he saw Rebecca still wearing the black griefs and T 0:15:40.085 --> 0:15:43.165 shirt she wore to bed. George was a twenty four 0:15:43.245 --> 0:15:46.205 year old CUB reporter when Rebecca was killed, and hers 0:15:46.285 --> 0:15:51.285 was the first murder case he ever covered. It's really 0:15:51.365 --> 0:15:54.565 strange to say this, but I never knew her. But 0:15:54.725 --> 0:15:58.605 there's no she had as a profound impact on my 0:15:58.725 --> 0:16:04.085 career as anything. What happened was actually the newspaper work. 0:16:04.085 --> 0:16:07.165 It was a weekly newspaper. I would call all the 0:16:07.165 --> 0:16:10.045 police agencies in my coverage area. One of them was 0:16:10.085 --> 0:16:13.765 the Izzard County Sheriff's Department, so I called them. It 0:16:13.845 --> 0:16:17.325 was probably a Monday or Tuesday. She disappeared that Monday, 0:16:17.365 --> 0:16:20.765 September twentieth, two thousand and four, and so I called them. 0:16:21.245 --> 0:16:24.845 And I know I called him on Monday. I probably 0:16:24.845 --> 0:16:27.125 called them on Tuesday. But you know, when you're dealing 0:16:27.125 --> 0:16:29.605 with small agencies like that, they don't have murders, I 0:16:29.645 --> 0:16:32.925 mean not very rarely. So i'd call them. They didn't 0:16:32.925 --> 0:16:35.525 say anything, you know, it was, you know, well, nothing 0:16:35.565 --> 0:16:38.725 going on here. George is right. I've covered a lot 0:16:38.765 --> 0:16:41.485 of true crime cases, and I know that police often 0:16:41.525 --> 0:16:43.845 hold back information that only the killer would know from 0:16:43.845 --> 0:16:46.565 the public, but in this case, they won't even verify 0:16:46.605 --> 0:16:52.365 basic information. Sometime Tuesday, they went to Casey McCullough's house. 0:16:53.365 --> 0:16:55.285 The story is, you know, she went and dropped him 0:16:55.285 --> 0:16:58.205 off at work, and then she went to the Possum 0:16:58.205 --> 0:17:00.445 Trot convenience store, got a couple of things, and then 0:17:00.565 --> 0:17:03.285 left went back to his house, and then somewhere sometime 0:17:03.365 --> 0:17:07.045 during that morning she died. And so during this process 0:17:07.125 --> 0:17:11.405 I actually met Danielle and surely her mother and Larry. 0:17:12.285 --> 0:17:14.285 They were down at the sheriff's apartment when I went 0:17:14.325 --> 0:17:17.725 down there, and I started talking to them. Literally the 0:17:17.765 --> 0:17:20.485 next day, the Thursday, they were out around guy In 0:17:20.845 --> 0:17:24.245 near where Casey McCullough's house is, and they were looking, 0:17:24.325 --> 0:17:29.005 you know, searching, And I literally watched Larry taking posters 0:17:29.045 --> 0:17:32.485 of his daughter and taping them to you know what 0:17:32.565 --> 0:17:35.045 Those guide wires are arrows, I mean that go around 0:17:35.085 --> 0:17:38.485 like a curve. And he was he I mean, obviously 0:17:38.525 --> 0:17:41.045 you can't do that. Number one and number two, nobody 0:17:41.205 --> 0:17:42.885 driving in eaty speed. We'd even be able to see 0:17:42.925 --> 0:17:44.805 or make out what it was. But when I saw 0:17:44.885 --> 0:17:48.885 him doing that, it just crushed me. And so so 0:17:48.965 --> 0:17:51.725 I was out there searching with them, you know, looking. 0:17:53.125 --> 0:17:56.365 The next Monday, I got to work really really early, 0:17:56.405 --> 0:17:57.925 like five o'clock in the morning. I just went in. 0:17:58.845 --> 0:18:01.045 I just had this feeling I need to go back 0:18:01.085 --> 0:18:04.965 to Melbourne, and so I drove down there, went to 0:18:05.005 --> 0:18:08.325 the courthouse. Now in the morning, a lot of you know, 0:18:08.445 --> 0:18:11.605 these elderly women would walk around the courthouse and they 0:18:11.605 --> 0:18:13.845 were talking. There were several of them down there, and 0:18:13.885 --> 0:18:17.365 so I parked my vehicle and I got out and 0:18:17.405 --> 0:18:20.165 I walked up to him. A couple leads I heard. 0:18:20.245 --> 0:18:22.405 I overheard a couple of ladies talking that there were 0:18:22.405 --> 0:18:25.925 searchers behind or out near this woman's property somewhere. So 0:18:26.165 --> 0:18:29.565 I said, could you tell me where you live? And 0:18:29.605 --> 0:18:31.365 she told me, and it was out It was down 0:18:31.685 --> 0:18:36.925 Arkansas nine, you know, connecting Mountain View with Melbourne, and 0:18:37.005 --> 0:18:39.565 so she said, oh, yeah, they're out there, and she 0:18:39.565 --> 0:18:43.405 had said something about a smell. I went out there, 0:18:44.605 --> 0:18:47.245 and you know, I saw a bunch of cars like 0:18:47.325 --> 0:18:48.685 lined up on the side of the road, and so 0:18:48.725 --> 0:18:51.565 I knew something was there. Well, I ran into a 0:18:51.645 --> 0:18:54.885 searcher that I had. He I'd met him through the searching, 0:18:54.965 --> 0:18:58.005 you know, I'd seen him, and I said Hey, I 0:18:58.045 --> 0:18:59.845 heard you guys are out here looking for Rebaca out here, 0:19:00.245 --> 0:19:03.405 and he was pointing, goes, she's right there, and i'sare 0:19:06.125 --> 0:19:08.725 I mean, she was right off the road. She looked 0:19:08.765 --> 0:19:13.445 like she was asleep. You know. One side of her 0:19:13.445 --> 0:19:15.885 face was you know, seemed okay, and then the other 0:19:15.925 --> 0:19:22.285 side was, you know, very badly damaged and decomposing. Was 0:19:22.365 --> 0:19:25.965 she whining down or sitting up or she was slumped. 0:19:26.085 --> 0:19:28.045 It was like it was like she was in some 0:19:29.645 --> 0:19:32.045 I want to say, like some There was like tree limbs. 0:19:32.045 --> 0:19:35.285 It was really grassy. It almost looked like maybe she 0:19:35.325 --> 0:19:38.045 had been where she had been tossed, like maybe she 0:19:38.085 --> 0:19:40.765 had landed on a branch or something. I mean, but 0:19:40.925 --> 0:19:42.925 when you see something like that for the first time 0:19:42.965 --> 0:19:48.605 ever in your life, you're almost like you're not there. 0:19:49.965 --> 0:19:52.085 At that moment, I was like just trying to get away, 0:19:52.125 --> 0:19:54.685 Like I literally started walking back away from it. And 0:19:54.725 --> 0:19:57.005 I had a camera with me, and I remember somebody 0:19:57.045 --> 0:19:58.565 asked me, They said, you're gonna take a picture of that, 0:19:58.645 --> 0:20:00.565 are you? And I said no, I said, I'm gonna 0:20:00.605 --> 0:20:03.005 try to forget about this. Probably spend the rest of 0:20:03.005 --> 0:20:06.485 my life trying to forget about this. We'll be right 0:20:06.525 --> 0:20:27.805 back a little just where she walked out. Okay, thank you. 0:20:28.125 --> 0:20:32.165 Rebecca's father, Larry Gold, is a prominent dentist in nearby 0:20:32.205 --> 0:20:35.205 Mountain Home. We meet with Larry in the back room 0:20:35.205 --> 0:20:37.965 of his dental office, a converted house right in the 0:20:38.005 --> 0:20:45.725 middle of towns. Taylor was so into the gate she 0:20:45.805 --> 0:20:48.565 drove from Atlanta. How long have you been here? So 0:20:48.565 --> 0:20:53.165 I've been here almost week on Saturday. As we talked 0:20:53.165 --> 0:20:56.245 to him, his dental hygienis work around us. He has 0:20:56.285 --> 0:21:01.285 the same tan skin and dazzling smile as his daughter's. 0:21:02.605 --> 0:21:05.845 Larry went to usc before marrying Rebecca's mom, Sharlot and 0:21:05.885 --> 0:21:09.325 moving here, and his accent is still more Southern California 0:21:09.365 --> 0:21:12.925 than northern Arkansas. People in this neck of the woods 0:21:13.125 --> 0:21:16.165 fall into one of two categories. You're either from around 0:21:16.205 --> 0:21:19.965 here or you're from off So even though Larry has 0:21:19.965 --> 0:21:22.925 lived in the area for over four decades, run a business, 0:21:23.045 --> 0:21:26.205 and raise a family, to many locals, he still falls 0:21:26.205 --> 0:21:33.085 into the latter category. Rebecca had a hard life. I 0:21:33.125 --> 0:21:37.245 attempted to get custody of Rebecca and her sisters and 0:21:37.405 --> 0:21:41.245 was pretty much raised by her mother in different areas 0:21:41.245 --> 0:21:45.925 of Arkansas. They eventually settled in the Mountain View area, 0:21:46.805 --> 0:21:53.525 and then as Rebecca grew a little bit older, I 0:21:54.525 --> 0:21:58.685 would have to say that my opinion of Rebecca began 0:21:58.805 --> 0:22:03.325 to really develop further. I had a little bit more 0:22:03.325 --> 0:22:06.965 time around her. I saw that she was beginning to 0:22:07.365 --> 0:22:09.885 turn her life around. But there was a lot of 0:22:09.925 --> 0:22:14.285 outside influences that were really pulling Rebecca in the right direction. 0:22:15.805 --> 0:22:20.205 And nothing could have made me happier than to see that. 0:22:21.005 --> 0:22:25.285 So I come back to the one memory in particular 0:22:25.365 --> 0:22:36.325 that it makes me cry. Excuse me. The last time 0:22:36.485 --> 0:22:40.965 that I saw her and I talked to her was 0:22:41.085 --> 0:22:49.485 probably every father's dream. She came to my home and 0:22:49.605 --> 0:22:52.725 she said, Dad, I want to talk to you, and 0:22:52.765 --> 0:22:55.445 so we went out on our back porch and we 0:22:55.525 --> 0:23:01.485 had some privacy, and she proceeded to tell me that 0:23:01.565 --> 0:23:08.085 she was wanting to fulfill some dreams of hers in college, 0:23:08.125 --> 0:23:11.005 and so she was heading heading towards getting into the 0:23:11.085 --> 0:23:20.205 University of Arkansas. M m hm. So she was at 0:23:20.205 --> 0:23:24.605 that point in my life in our relationship, I'm doing 0:23:24.645 --> 0:23:29.805 absolutely everything right. She had dreams, she had hopes, she 0:23:29.885 --> 0:23:32.765 had ambition. But the one thing is she said to 0:23:32.805 --> 0:23:42.485 me that will m h m hm. Always be remembered. 0:23:46.045 --> 0:23:49.205 I don't know if I can get this advocate this out. No, 0:23:49.805 --> 0:23:53.845 I mean, I'll take it. But hm, as I said, 0:23:53.845 --> 0:23:57.725 it was really every father's dream here hear from your child. 0:23:58.525 --> 0:24:05.045 But she said said to me that, Dad, I've watched 0:24:05.045 --> 0:24:09.405 you in law life and you've always done well, and 0:24:09.685 --> 0:24:19.885 I want to I would it be like you so 0:24:22.845 --> 0:24:28.525 m so those that's my last memory of our time together. 0:24:31.365 --> 0:24:34.885 Mm hmm. So with that said, obviously I knew I 0:24:35.045 --> 0:24:37.485 knew nothing about what was going to happen next. And 0:24:37.685 --> 0:24:39.765 for some reason, I'm thinking it was only a few 0:24:39.805 --> 0:24:42.125 weeks before this happened. After that, it could have been 0:24:42.165 --> 0:24:45.645 a month, could have been a couple of months. But 0:24:46.605 --> 0:24:56.125 when it happened, that that disbelief. I don't know. You're 0:24:56.365 --> 0:24:59.125 you're you're in You're in a state of shock, and 0:25:00.205 --> 0:25:03.245 you've never been through something like this before, and you 0:25:03.285 --> 0:25:05.605 don't know the next step. So you obviously beg and 0:25:05.605 --> 0:25:09.405 to turn to law enforcement and people you trust to 0:25:11.125 --> 0:25:15.485 answer your questions and to kind of help point you 0:25:15.525 --> 0:25:19.325 in the right direction. In the years since Rebecca's murder, 0:25:19.565 --> 0:25:23.045 Larry has done his own investigation. He's written countless letters 0:25:23.085 --> 0:25:26.525 to the police and to the prosecutors. He's hired pi's 0:25:26.725 --> 0:25:29.685 and gone to the press. At some point, he even 0:25:29.685 --> 0:25:34.765 talked to a clairvoyant. At first, he was cooperative, patient, 0:25:35.445 --> 0:25:38.085 He was a law abiding citizen who raised his kids 0:25:38.085 --> 0:25:42.285 to respect God, the American flag, and the police. But 0:25:42.365 --> 0:25:46.405 after several years passed with no arrests, Larry grew frustrated. 0:25:47.045 --> 0:25:49.805 He felt like the police were stonewalling, and so he 0:25:49.845 --> 0:25:52.405 went to the media and he hasn't spoken to the 0:25:52.485 --> 0:25:56.805 Arkansas State Police since. The investigators in charge of the 0:25:56.845 --> 0:25:59.725 case believe that by going to the press, Larry hurt 0:25:59.765 --> 0:26:04.845 the investigation. If you ever murdered, it's unsolved. The longer 0:26:04.885 --> 0:26:08.325 you go, the harder it is to to come up 0:26:08.365 --> 0:26:10.965 with with the facts and to get any kind of 0:26:10.965 --> 0:26:15.765 a conviction. So there needs to be some parameters built 0:26:15.765 --> 0:26:19.365 into the law enforcement to where any at a certain 0:26:19.405 --> 0:26:22.245 given point. And I'll just use as a reference five years, 0:26:22.605 --> 0:26:24.965 say five years, you give law enforcement everything they can 0:26:25.045 --> 0:26:28.365 possibly do. At the end of five years, the family, 0:26:28.565 --> 0:26:33.605 as long as they're not considered to be a possible suspect, 0:26:34.605 --> 0:26:37.765 they should have the right to come in and maybe 0:26:37.765 --> 0:26:39.765 at that point not look at the file, but they 0:26:39.765 --> 0:26:41.965 certainly have a right to look at certain things and 0:26:42.005 --> 0:26:45.805 then to bring in qualified people representing them at some 0:26:45.925 --> 0:26:48.045 point in time. You need have you need to be 0:26:48.045 --> 0:26:52.045 able to access the entire file. It is a cold case. 0:26:52.405 --> 0:26:56.485 They want to let me have her any of her forensics. 0:26:56.525 --> 0:26:59.685 They wouldn't let me have any of her of the 0:26:59.845 --> 0:27:05.725 medical uh, the the anatomical findings cause well cause death. 0:27:05.925 --> 0:27:08.805 It was on a death certificate. But you know sometimes 0:27:08.845 --> 0:27:12.365 that gets put on a death certificate and that's an error, 0:27:13.445 --> 0:27:15.325 and you just want other people to be able to 0:27:15.325 --> 0:27:28.645 look at this. According to Rebecca's autopsy report, the cause 0:27:28.725 --> 0:27:32.645 of death was blunt force trauma to the head, probably 0:27:32.725 --> 0:27:36.045 with just one or two blows. Nobody's been able to 0:27:36.085 --> 0:27:38.485 confirm this for me yet, but I've heard over the 0:27:38.565 --> 0:27:41.165 years that the murder weapon may have been a piano 0:27:41.285 --> 0:27:45.165 leg Was this, as some people have speculated, a pre 0:27:45.285 --> 0:27:48.765 planned crime, or did her killer hit her as hard 0:27:48.765 --> 0:27:51.405 as they could and then panic when she started bleeding. 0:27:53.405 --> 0:27:55.925