WEBVTT - Cold Blooded 0:00:02.480 --> 0:00:05.200 You know everybody wants to paint this idyllic picture of 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:08.200 small town America. Well, there's a CD underside to that. 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:11.920 And if you don't have anybody watching the watchman, keeping 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:14.560 an eye on things, keeping people accountable, things can get 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:19.320 out of control. There's over twenty unsolved homicides in Pike County. 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:23.119 I want the community to realize this can happen to 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:32.239 their family. This is the Piked and massacre returned to 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:40.800 Pike County Season three, episode nine, Cold Blooded. I'm Courtney Armstrong, 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:44.400 a television producer at Katie Studios with Stephanie Leidecker and 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:48.199 Jeff Shane. Over the last two seasons, we've covered a 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:51.639 few local stories that we believed were unrelated to the massacre. 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:57.200 Turns out we may have been mistaken. This episode is 0:00:57.200 --> 0:00:59.960 dedicated to tying up the loose ends of these stories 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:04.959 that have new endings or new developments. We're also exploring 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:07.959 the intersection between many of the main players who also 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:12.520 have ties to the Roden murders. The connections are undeniable. 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:17.440 The Roden murders of April twenty sixteen, earth shattering as 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:20.480 they were, have pushed law enforcement in southern Ohio to 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:24.720 the limit. It's left their relatively small ranks hyper extended. 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:28.600 As a result, As local cold case advocates like Angie 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.280 Montgomery point out, many other local homicides have gone ignored. 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:37.040 In fact, there are at least nine other murder cases 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:39.679 in Pike County dating back to two thousand that have 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:44.720 iced over without resolution or even charges issued. In light 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:47.840 of the county's population of only fifty eight thousand, this 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:54.200 number is staggering. Tray Evans won the election, and he 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:58.200 called me in January when he ran into office and 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:00.320 told me that he was going to try his best 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:02.800 with the case. Who could do the best he could 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:06.440 with it. He's got in contact with the BCI and 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:11.440 they were looking on some things. Speaking as Angie Montgomery, 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:15.320 a Piked and mother of four and spiritual adviser. Once 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:18.120 her kids were grown, Angie decided to dedicate her life 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:22.240 to being a cold case advocate. Here she is talking 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.079 about Sheriff Tracy D. Evans, who took over the Pike 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:29.360 County Sheriff's office in twenty twenty. This was after Sheriff 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:33.239 Charles Reader, who spearheaded the Road and investigation, pled guilty 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:38.040 to corruption charges. Reader is currently facing a three year 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:42.760 sentence at the Toledo Correctional Facility. Here's Stephanie and Jeff. 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:47.600 Just as a reminder, Sheriff Charlie Reader was the sheriff 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:50.200 at the time of the road and murders, and he's 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:55.000 never been directly associated with the murders, but he, alongside 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.480 former DA Mike DeWine, we're very public talking about it 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:03.440 at the time, and after a very thorough investigation, Reader 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:08.560 agreed to be suspended in July twenty nineteen, and shortly 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:12.960 after was indicted on eighteen counts that included also racketeering. 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:17.440 Beloved Sheriff Charlie Reader was accused of stealing more than 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:21.720 fourteen thousand dollars from the Sheriff's office and seized drug money. 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:24.919 What he would do was go into these evidence envelopes 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:27.880 that were in his possession, take out money, go gamble 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:30.560 with it, and then put the money back before anyone noticed, 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:34.239 and allegedly he repeated this process numerous times before anyone 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:38.120 even caught on. In September twenty twenty, Reader pled guilty 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:41.480 to two counts of theft, one count of tampering with evidence, 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:46.720 and then also one count of conflict of interest another 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:49.360 matter that doesn't necessarily relate to this, but is just 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:54.080 another strike against Sheriff Reader's morality. Is the story from 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:57.000 twenty twenty one that he was sued by county officials 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:59.960 over collecting salary and benefits that they say he improperly 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:03.119 collected while he was suspended as they were investigating all 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:06.480 this other stuff that he had done. According to the lawsuit, 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:09.400 Charlie Reader collected over one hundred and twenty thousand dollars 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:11.640 from the city. It's not clear the exact status of 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:16.279 this litigation, but it is just another strike against the sheriff. 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:23.920 Here again, Angie Montgomery, we had a meeting with Tracy 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:28.040 Evans in June, myself and Curtis smother and Jenny's sisters, 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:31.960 and he told us that if the BTI decided not 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:34.400 to assist with the case, that he was going to 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:40.640 wash his hands with him. It's important to note that 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:44.920 this is Angie Montgomery's recollection of events. We've reached out 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:48.120 to Sheriff Tracy Evans for comment but did not receive 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:53.000 a response. The Curtis and Jenny Angie is referring to 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:57.400 are her cousin, Curtis Francis and his fiance Jennifer Burgett. 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:00.599 The pair were found dead in their bed December ninth, 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:03.679 two thousand and six, in their home at one hundred 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:09.160 and twenty four Hopper Road in piked hon Thirty four 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:11.920 year old Curtis and thirty year old Jennifer were each 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:15.479 at once while asleep. The killings became known as the 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:20.400 Hopper Road murders. According to Angie, Curtis and his fiance 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:24.440 Jennifer were excited to get married. They both loved hunting 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:27.080 and fishing, and Chris was a jovial guy known for 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:31.640 playing practical jokes. Curtis had just had shoulder replacement surgery 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:35.200 and had a supply of pain medications, so one early 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:39.279 theory was that the killers were after his pills. In 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:41.960 the sixteen years since the murders, the case has been 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:46.280 opened and closed several times without a single arrest. It's 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:51.000 currently a cold case. Sheriff Evans, who during his campaign 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:55.400 promised voters to improve resources for victims, has deflected Angie's 0:05:55.400 --> 0:06:02.400 passionate please to reopen the case. He was done with it. Basically, 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:04.600 there was nothing more they could do that we would 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:06.839 have to turn to the media if we wanted to 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.560 get help with the case, which was kind of heartbreaking 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.320 because you know, he gets elected and tells us that 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:15.640 he's going to do everything he can, but then he's 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:18.160 flipping it around and saying, if the BCI does, they helped, 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:19.760 and I'm just going to wash my hands with it. 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:23.040 So you kind of contradicting what she told me. Kind 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:25.240 he gave us like false hope, like this guy's really 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:28.960 going to dig into it and do something, and turns 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:31.240 around and says if the BCI doesn't do anything, he's 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:33.200 not going to do anything. And he also said that 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:36.320 he didn't want kIPS called into the sheriff's pernament, which 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:43.320 I thought was very odd. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:49.360 Investigation or BCI, has offered no new support. Here's investigative 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:54.360 reporter and journalism professor James Pilcher. Unfortunately, the Francis and 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:57.960 Burgette case has been ruled a cold case now by 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:01.080 both of the pact prosecutor in the Aisle Storney General's office. 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:04.440 That happened about two years ago, so now it's on 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:08.360 the shelf. There's no answers and unless family members can 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:11.200 come forward to new evidence or something just pops up 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:13.200 or somebody walks in off the street and says I 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:15.720 did it. And that's pretty much what's going to happen 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:21.160 for anything to move on this case. For Angie. This 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:23.720 case has been a long and frustrating series of missed 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:29.400 opportunities and snaffoos. In twenty sixteen, investigators discovered a hidden 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:32.840 well at three twenty four Wind Road, five minutes from 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:37.040 Hopper Road. This well contained a saddle gun, a lever 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:41.360 action eighteen shot that is what Curtis and Jenny were 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:45.280 killed with. There was also a pistol sunk in the 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:50.240 swampy well, but according to reports, in the process of 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:52.600 trying to flood the evidence out of the well, the 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:55.440 fire department blew an eighty foot hole in the well 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:58.600 and washed the guns away. And then there was the 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:02.920 issue of the lost nine one one call. Here again, 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:07.040 Angie Montgomery, and then they tell me that they lost 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:12.960 a nine one one call. They're not very efficient with things. 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:15.480 You would think that that would be one of the 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:19.000 main things you would keep ahold of in a double homicide. 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:23.120 So it kind of worries me that they did turn 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:25.160 everything over that they have to the BCI, to BC 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:27.480 I might look at it and face there isn't anything 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:30.080 here we can work with. That's where it falls back 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:33.000 on all these cases, all these cases that are unsolved, 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:37.160 it's the same thing. It's repetitive. All stammlies I talk to, 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:39.840 they go through the same thing you go through, which 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:42.840 is they lost this or they don't have this. And 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:46.360 why doesn't a shriff keeps coding to the sheriff's office. 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:50.679 You know you got twelve documented until thomicides in your county. 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:55.360 Why aren't you asking the public for help for these cases? 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:59.440 It's like they're just shoved to the side. That's how 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:05.760 the cases become cold. Angie is still holding out hope 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:08.480 that the BCI will reopen the cold case and look 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:12.440 at it with fresh eyes. It's actually their cold Case unit, 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:15.360 which is through the Ohio Attorney General's Office, and they 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:19.239 are amazing. They just solved a forty seven year old homicide. 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:23.640 They're really good. So if they do take it on 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:28.120 and assist, I think that will get an arrest because 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:31.080 they're good at what they do. But I'm also worried 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:38.160 about what all Pike County has given them. What ultimately 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:41.040 stands in the way of the Francis case finding resolution? 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:47.520 Is it incompetence, apathy, like the killer behind this awful crime. 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:54.400 It remains a mystery. I've got someone in Curtain Junie's 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:56.440 case that gave a statement back in two thousand and 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:59.640 six when it happened, and he was the last person 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.640 to see Kurtisen Jennifer alive, and he went to the 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:05.600 sheriff's office and gave them a statement that he was there, 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:09.440 and those people they never called him back, They never 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:12.840 followed up with him. And I had him go again 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:17.600 and make another statement with mister Evans, the new sheriff 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:20.720 and turning in and I asked him every day and 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:23.800 they have not called him. They have not followed up 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:27.640 with him. So to me, that makes me think that 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:33.439 they don't care, period because that's a pretty big guilts 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:35.280 someone saying they were the last person to see two 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:37.520 people alive that were murdered, and you're not going to 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:42.200 call him back and talk to him. It's eerie the 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:47.120 way things are done around here. We don't know where 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:50.040 the Francis case will go, But there's yet another Pike 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:53.520 County case, this one involving a young man named Jacob 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:58.640 Lansing that has had its own investigative issues in January 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:01.800 of twenty eighteen, Pike prosecutors thought they had their man. 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:08.720 Paul Detti, thirty one, was all set to face trial 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:12.320 and in Pike County Common Pleas Court charged with aggravated 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:16.480 murder for the twenty twelve death of Jacob Lansing. But 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:21.880 then prosecutors suddenly reversed course. Newly uncovered evidence exonerated Detti, 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:26.319 and the death penalty case was dismissed. Pike County Prosecutor 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.800 Rob Junk, who's overseeing the road and trials, described this 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:33.040 case as one of the weirdest he'd ever seen. On 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:36.920 October twenty seventh, twenty twelve, Jacob Lansing's body was found 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:42.400 underneath the vehicle at his River Road home. Authorities thought 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.160 it was an unfortunate accident in which the suv the 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:47.920 twenty five year old had been working fell on him, 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:52.880 but his mother, Maureen was incredulous and took action. The 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:55.840 fact that Jacob wasn't dressed in his usual coveralls while 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:59.960 working on his car did not wash here again, Stephanie 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.920 and Jeff. Rob Junk is one of the main prosecutors 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:06.800 against the Wagners, and as we've come to learn over 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:10.760 the years, he was involved with both Reader brothers. All 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:12.840 of these names kind of keep coming back to each other. 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.440 He had a very public social media spat with Sheriff 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:20.400 Charlie Reader where Sheriff Reader was threatening to take Rob 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:23.199 Junk down, or, as he put it, take the quote 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:26.320 unquote Junk out. It turns out it was Rob Junk 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:28.840 who would end up being an integral part in getting 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:32.840 both Charlie and Brian Reader removed from their posts. A 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:35.840 lot of people have theorized that the main reason that 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:39.080 Brian Reader was removed from office was because of his 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:48.440 handling of the lancing case. However, it's been reported on 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:52.360 that Brian Reader was terminated over attendance records and sick time. 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:58.400 This is according to Pike County Commissioner Blaine Beakman. As 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:01.800 for Rob Junk in January of twenty nineteen, he noted 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:04.640 that his office as an outwill employer, and he can 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.680 quote let somebody go if I don't like the color 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:13.240 of their socks. Here again, Angie Montgomery, he never worked 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:17.120 on his hickle engine work, clives. That's what was bug 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:20.240 and her. There was the pack of cigarettes beside him, 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:24.000 and he didn't smoke, so she got a private investigator 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:27.680 did it behind the CoP's back and got her own 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:29.960 evidence and took all of her evidence into Rob Junk, 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:34.520 and Rob said, well, we'll look at it. This was 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:37.400 a rare instance where an insistent family member was able 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:41.199 to move the dial with the prosecutor's office. Jacob's mom, 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:44.880 Marine never believed that his death was an accident. Now, finally, 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:49.520 in late twenty sixteen early twenty seventeen, she got Brian 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.920 Reader to listen up. Ryan was the chief investigator at 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.720 the time with the Pike County Prosecutor's Office. That's Rob Junk, 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:59.360 who is now part of the prosecution team overseeing the 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:03.120 prosecutor of the Wagoners. He opened an investigation and even 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:06.920 had the body exhumed and an autoxic perform and that 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:09.880 revealed that he had been beaten and strangled to death. 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:17.200 This means that Jacob Lansing's killer took his dead body, 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:21.760 placed it under his suv, and then precipitously dropped the 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:24.760 vehicle to make it look like Jacob was crushed a 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:28.360 freak accident, but based on the new evidence, the death 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:34.480 was ruled a homicide. Bryan spent months and months following 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:38.200 the leads and doing interviews to find these suspects, Zerian 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:41.960 and on a man named Paul Michael Allan Detty, who 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.320 arrested in May of twenty seventeen, But in January of 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:49.080 twenty eighteen, a week before Debty's trials to begin, Rob johnk, 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:51.720 who I mentioned before he was a prosecutor, dismissed the 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:56.080 case without prejudice and Debti was released. He cited new 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:58.600 evidence that popped up that affected the case, but he 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:01.880 never told us what that evidence. A year later, in 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:08.880 twenty nineteen, Rob Young fired Brian Reader. Investigator. Brian Reader, 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.320 who had been spearheading the probe, was let go from 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:15.040 the prosecutor's office in twenty nineteen. He is the brother 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:19.840 of Charlie Reader, the disgraced former Pike County sheriff. Apparently, 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:23.640 Reader's payroll records and personnel files were under investigation by 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:27.560 the state auditor for some time. Due to Reader's firing 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:30.800 and the general lack of viable leads, the Jacob Lansing 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:36.600 case stalled. No further arrests were made. In November twenty twenty, 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:40.520 Jacob's mother, Marian Lansing, issued an eight thousand dollars reward 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:44.200 for information about her son's murder. It has yet to 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:49.280 be collected. We're going to take a break. We'll be 0:15:49.320 --> 0:16:00.440 back in a moment. What happened to Megan and Katie Sancaster. 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:04.800 This is the harrowing story of two young sisters in law, 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:08.840 one missing and one dead. This happened in a small 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:13.120 town called Portsmouth, Ohio, one hundred miles east of Cincinnati. 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:16.000 It's a town of twenty thousand people on the north 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:20.760 bank of the Ohio River. Here again, James Pilcher. I 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:24.840 believe Meghan Lancaster got involved with some bad people, like 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:28.080 the people that have been thought to have killed some 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:31.240 women up narrow Chill a coffee and she got involved 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:34.840 in that ring, or whether or not she just something 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:39.280 went sideways with one of her clients or whatever. I think. 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.480 Meghan is buried somewhere in those hills of Scioga County. 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:46.400 It's not like Pike County because you get down south 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.080 of Pike County, you start hitting where the glaciers came 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.760 through to create the Ohio River. It's very, very, very hilly, 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:56.440 and there's all these hollers and valleys and woods and forests, 0:16:56.640 --> 0:17:00.560 and there's a lot of places to hide body. And 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:03.560 I think she's buried or they dumped her somewhere and 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:10.000 she's gone. Megan Lancaster, a mother and former high school 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:12.919 softball player, was twenty five when she disappeared on the 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:17.600 evening of April third, twenty thirteen, dressed in jeans in 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:20.679 an Ohio State sweatshirt. She'd spent the evening with friends. 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:23.960 Megan called her mother at about seven thirty to say 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:27.480 she'd be home soon. There was no communication from her 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:31.720 after that. Meghan's white Mustang was located a few days 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:35.560 later at a Rally's Hamburger in Portsmouth. Her wallet was 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:38.760 found on the front seat. She left behind her seven 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:41.840 year old son, whose name was tattooed on her shoulder. 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:47.520 Portsmouth Police detective Steve Brewer spearheaded the missing person's investigation, 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:50.560 but no one looked for Megan more intensely than her 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:55.000 sister in law and best friend, Katie Lancaster. Megan had 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:57.639 been scraping by as a sex worker and had fallen 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:01.280 into a life of addiction, so the search led Katie 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:06.720 into the vast and shadowy underworld of sex trafficking and Portsmouth. Undeterred, 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:10.240 Katie threw herself and defining her sister in law victims 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:12.800 out of a Kid. Angie Montgomery, who helped Katie and 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:18.040 her search efforts, describe Katie's fearlessness and determination. Their pursuit 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:21.560 began with scouring back page, which sex workers often used 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:29.200 to advertise their services. When I first started to hanging 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:33.280 with Katie, we would sit for hours with our laptops 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:36.880 and go through that website back page looking for her. 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:40.760 Hours like we would get babysitters so we could sit 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:44.280 and go through. She would send his pictures like Megan Scott. 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:46.600 I remember she said a birthmark about her vlly button. 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:50.080 So we would look through the pictures of these girls. 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:52.760 Mostly they wouldn't show their faces and we would look 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:56.359 for that birthmark. Just hours and hours and hours of 0:18:56.480 --> 0:19:01.280 doing that. So in the beginning I kind of did 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:03.280 because she had a couple of leaves. She sent me 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:05.520 a video one time of a girl in Columbus on 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.840 Sullivan Avenue. It was a traffic cam that looks a 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:12.000 lot like Megan Kanye would get in the car. She 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:13.800 would get in the car and go to strip joints 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:16.280 and she would talk to pimps. She would talk to 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:19.399 drug dealers. She was not scared to do that and 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:21.920 In the beginning, I didn't think she might be out 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:27.160 there somewhere, but I don't think so. Now I don't 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:33.800 think she's here anymore. Angie says that Katie's fierceness inspired 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:36.560 her own efforts to keep fighting to solve Curtis and 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:40.760 Jennifer's double homicide on Hopper Road. I started to tell 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:43.720 her a little bit about Curtis and Jennifer, and she's 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:47.000 someone that told me to be a squeaky wheel because 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:49.439 you'll get the most grief. I mean. She would go 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:52.040 on television and talk and I would watch her and 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:54.000 I'm like, thing, she's so brave, and she would sit 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:56.480 and talk with me and tell me, you gotta do this. 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:59.080 You gotta be a voice. Nobody else is going to 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:01.919 do this. You have to do this. You know. She's 0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:06.119 the reason why I fight so hard. I watched how 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:10.240 relentful she was, how passionate she was, and she was 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:12.680 kind of like my hero because there are a lot 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:16.000 of bad guys in this area and she was not 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:19.960 afraid to stand up against the powers that be. Katy 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:22.760 was well aware that there could be consequences for ruffling 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:26.399 too many feathers, with her insistent please for justice. She 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:28.600 would always say, you know, if something happens to me, 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:32.639 make sure you look into it. I'm sure you find 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:37.520 out that that's really what happened to me. Because when 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:39.840 you do go up against the people, and you know, 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:43.959 the small enforcements or attorneys or judges, there's always that 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:47.440 fear of they might retaliate against you. And she knew that. 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.080 But she also always said, you know, I'm on social media, 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:53.880 I'm on TV. I'm saying what I need to say 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:57.240 about these people to these people. That way, if something 0:20:57.359 --> 0:20:59.879 does happen to me, people will know to look in 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:02.320 to it, you know, instead of being quiet about it. 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:05.480 So that's always stuck with me more she kind of 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:10.040 pumped me up the louder I got. Katie believed fervently 0:21:10.119 --> 0:21:12.439 that her sister in law got cut up with Michael Moran. 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:16.680 Moran was a prominent local attorney who was later indicted 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:21.720 on eighteen sex trafficking related charges. We covered his story 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:25.879 in season one of this podcast. The indictment accused Moran 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:28.760 of engaging in sex trafficking from two thousand and three 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:32.440 to twenty eighteen, with at least six victims being involved. 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:36.359 Here's reporter Bob strictly who covered the story for The 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:45.960 Cincinnati Enquirer. Michael Moran is an attorney that's been practicing 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:49.119 for several decades. He's originally from Ironton, Ohio, which is 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:52.679 just up the river from Portsmouth. He operates of an 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:55.000 office that is right across the street from the Scarta 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:59.200 County Courthouse, and he was appointed to fulfill a term 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:03.640 on from city council and continued until recently to practice 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:07.840 criminal defense law until his law license was suspended after 0:22:07.880 --> 0:22:17.320 he was charged with different sex trafficking related crimes. Here again, 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:22.560 Stephanie and Jeff. Morant's focus as a lawyer was Portsmouth's underworld, 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:25.400 which gave him easy access to things like sex workers 0:22:25.400 --> 0:22:28.119 and drug dealers. He also has a connection to the 0:22:28.160 --> 0:22:32.080 Wagners and just as a reminder, Pug Carter is actually 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:37.200 Angela Wagner's father and George and Jake's grandfather, and he 0:22:37.240 --> 0:22:41.160 was allegedly using his pawn business to rip people off 0:22:41.200 --> 0:22:43.919 back in the day. He was also a frequenter of 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:47.400 this nefarious place called Big Bear Lake. It's a location 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:49.800 we've heard about for years but haven't been able to 0:22:49.800 --> 0:22:52.399 speak about it until now, and it appears to be 0:22:52.600 --> 0:22:57.879 a place that intersects Michael Moran, Sheriff Charles Reader, the Wagners, 0:22:58.119 --> 0:23:00.679 as well as the road Ins. It may be a 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:05.080 key factor in the trials ahead. Big Bear Lake could 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:10.760 hold deep secrets that pertained to the case. We'll get 0:23:10.800 --> 0:23:13.920 into that a little more next week. Here's James Pilcher 0:23:14.160 --> 0:23:17.200 speaking about Michael Moran and his connection to Pug Carter. 0:23:18.080 --> 0:23:20.640 I gotta tell you, he would represent anybody that came 0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:25.760 in his door, and he specialized in low level crime 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:31.040 and drug offenses and DUIs and all of that. That 0:23:31.160 --> 0:23:33.320 was his specialty. That's how he made his living. The 0:23:33.400 --> 0:23:35.840 fact that a guy like Plug Carter came across his 0:23:35.920 --> 0:23:38.639 bow and he represented him was not surprising to me 0:23:38.680 --> 0:23:43.680 at all, because that's what he specialized in. But now 0:23:43.720 --> 0:23:47.080 he was facing possibly career ending allegations from a half 0:23:47.119 --> 0:23:52.240 dozen women. Here again, Bob, strictly, I would say that 0:23:52.280 --> 0:23:54.639 the women had stepped forward or was at the forefront. 0:23:54.960 --> 0:23:56.919 It just took somebody hitting me over the head with 0:23:56.960 --> 0:23:59.399 a fish that'd actually start paying attention to it in 0:23:59.520 --> 0:24:03.119 regard that it demands. What set this one apart for me, 0:24:03.160 --> 0:24:05.240 It was just the amount of women that stepped forward 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:08.320 and said something about this to us and talk to 0:24:08.400 --> 0:24:11.520 us about it. And then also the apparatus that has 0:24:11.560 --> 0:24:15.840 to exist around a person like Michael Moran for an 0:24:15.840 --> 0:24:19.560 operation as we reported on to exist in the first place, 0:24:20.160 --> 0:24:24.880 a lot of people have to turn their heads. I think, 0:24:25.040 --> 0:24:27.680 if anything, over the years of working on this particular story, 0:24:27.720 --> 0:24:30.760 it's kind of the damnability of people who just turned 0:24:30.800 --> 0:24:33.239 the other way and don't care about what's going on 0:24:33.359 --> 0:24:35.280 right in front of them in their community is more 0:24:35.280 --> 0:24:41.199 prevalent than maybe we all realized initially. The charges against 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:44.720 Moran included three counts of trafficking in person, five counts 0:24:44.720 --> 0:24:49.800 of compelling prostitution, nine counts of promoting prostitution, and one 0:24:49.840 --> 0:24:54.320 count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. His 0:24:54.480 --> 0:24:58.560 arrest was orchestrated by Human Trafficking Task Force under Ohio 0:24:58.600 --> 0:25:02.560 Attorney General Debat, combining the forces of the BCI and 0:25:02.640 --> 0:25:07.400 several other agencies. Moran was the first domino to fall. 0:25:09.960 --> 0:25:18.280 Multiple other people are still under investigation. Meghan Lancaster had 0:25:18.280 --> 0:25:21.160 a color coded notebook in which she kept track of clients. 0:25:22.000 --> 0:25:26.280 The entries included scribbles such as quote dance for and 0:25:26.560 --> 0:25:30.440 quote men who give money and included Moran's name and number, 0:25:31.000 --> 0:25:35.320 along with the notation of eighty dollars. Again, Bob strictly. 0:25:35.920 --> 0:25:39.919 There were rumors about Lancaster's disappearance being related to Moran 0:25:40.080 --> 0:25:42.840 for several years. Her sister in law provided us with 0:25:42.960 --> 0:25:48.000