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Speaker 1: School of Humans. Every single time I listen to a

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Speaker 1: true crime podcast or watch a TV show, they say

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Speaker 1: the same thing. It was such a small town, you

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Speaker 1: never expected such a horrific murder to happen there. But

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Speaker 1: one thing you learn working in true crime is that

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Speaker 1: evil is everywhere, and it definitely does not discriminate by

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Speaker 1: zip code. But there are some cold cases that captivate

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Speaker 1: the public imagination, and as the years go by and

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Speaker 1: the cases remain unsolved, the names of these victims become

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Speaker 1: synonymous with the town itself. In Little Rock, Arkansas, that

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Speaker 1: name is Ebbie Jane Steppack. It seems like everyone in

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Speaker 1: Arkansas knows Ebbie Steppeck. They know that Ebbie was eighteen

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Speaker 1: years old when she vanished without a trace. They know

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Speaker 1: that her case has been one of the most extensively

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Speaker 1: covered cold cases ever in Arkansas. Maybe they've seen her

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Speaker 1: high school portrait or the missing posters that have papered

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Speaker 1: the city streets and been all over social media since

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Speaker 1: Ebie disappeared in twenty fifteen. And yet, even though Ebbie

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Speaker 1: is everywhere, so much of her life and her case

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Speaker 1: remain a mystery. What really happened to Ebbie Steppick. I'm

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Speaker 1: Catherine Townsend. This is hell and gone. You just you

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Speaker 1: just go straight. It's out's up here on the right,

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Speaker 1: and I'm back in Arkansas. This time I'm in Little Rock.

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Speaker 1: My producer, Gabby is driving us to our first stop

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Speaker 1: of the day. I had a lot of weird dreams

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Speaker 1: last night about men surrounding our car, so hopefully that

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Speaker 1: won't happen. But yeah, So this is our first day

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Speaker 1: on the case. We're going to be meeting with Ebbie

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Speaker 1: Steppeck's mom. I've been in contact with Ebbie's mom, Laurie

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Speaker 1: for a few months now. She's walked me through the case,

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Speaker 1: what's missing and what they don't know. She's also been

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Speaker 1: telling me a lot about Ebby in many ways, Ebbie

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Speaker 1: Steppeck was a typical teenager. She was living in West

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Speaker 1: Little Rock with Laurie, her stepdad, Michael, and her younger sister.

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Speaker 1: Her older brother Trevor lived nearby, so did her maternal grandparents.

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Speaker 1: Both of Ebbie's parents, her mom, Laurie and her dad Peter,

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Speaker 1: were hairstylists, and Ebbie had dreams of going to cosmetology school.

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Speaker 1: She loved doing her hair and switching up styles and colors.

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Speaker 1: She also loved to do her makeup. Ebbie's friends and

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Speaker 1: families say that as she grew up, she developed a

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Speaker 1: strong personality. She was fiercely loyal, she loved to make

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Speaker 1: everyone laugh, and she loved to entertain. Like a lot

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Speaker 1: of teens, she was a child of divorce, and she

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Speaker 1: was dealing with the conflicts that come with being part

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Speaker 1: of a blended family. Ebbie was eighteen years old. She

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Speaker 1: was at a crossroads, deciding who she wanted to be

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Speaker 1: and what she wanted to do with her life. Loved

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Speaker 1: and just make sure we're right on the rightway. Okay,

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Speaker 1: So we take a left here, and then we take

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Speaker 1: a right, and then it's really close. I've been a

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Speaker 1: Little Rock a lot. I was actually born in Little Rock,

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Speaker 1: and I grew up just a few miles from here

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Speaker 1: in the southern part of the state. While working on

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Speaker 1: previous seasons of the podcast, it seemed like I was

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Speaker 1: always driving through Little Rock for one reason or another.

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Speaker 1: It's also where the Arkansas State Police and the Little

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Speaker 1: Rock Police Department are based. Little Rock is divided by

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Speaker 1: several highways. Interstate thirty divides north and south, Interstate four

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Speaker 1: thirty and six thirty divide east and west, and basically

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Speaker 1: anything west of Interstate four thirty is considered West Little

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Speaker 1: Rock and it's an area that has expanded rapidly over

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Speaker 1: the past two decades. Cantrell Road and Channell Parkway are

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Speaker 1: the major roads that run through this part of town.

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Speaker 1: It's full of affluent neighborhoods with names like Brody Creek,

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Speaker 1: Woodland's Edge, and the Channel Valley. Channell Valley is where

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Speaker 1: Ebby's family lives. It looks a little like the Ozarks.

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Speaker 1: I mean, there are kind of rolling hills, there are

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Speaker 1: a lot of trees. It's got almost like a semi

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Speaker 1: rural feel in this part of West Little Rock. There

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Speaker 1: are a lot of little gated communities and lakes. In general,

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Speaker 1: it's very safe, very friendly, nice area. We arrive at Laurie's,

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Speaker 1: so you turn into this little subdivision and it's basically

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Speaker 1: it's just a planned little community. Really nice houses, nice yards.

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Speaker 1: They're set, they're close to each other. They look like

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Speaker 1: they're all kind of a similar architectural style. Hi, how

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Speaker 1: are you. Hi's our producer. Hello, thank you. She listens

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Speaker 1: to sounds. I don't want to I want to worry

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Speaker 1: about hi talking, So y'all come on here. Laurie and

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Speaker 1: her family have moved since we went missing, but they

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Speaker 1: still live in the same general area. The house is gorgeous,

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Speaker 1: with white walls, big overstuffed sofas, and while we're there,

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Speaker 1: it's beautifully decorated for the holidays. In Ebbie's senior picture,

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Speaker 1: she looks exactly like her mom, Laurie. Both are petite

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Speaker 1: and blonde. Laurie says they were alike in personality too.

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Speaker 1: The personality traits they shared made them super close, but

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Speaker 1: it also meant that as Ebbie grew up and became

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Speaker 1: a teenager, they clashed. Ebbie's the strongest filled person that

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Speaker 1: I know, other than myself. We are both so stubborn.

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Speaker 1: That is our biggest defective character, but it's also our

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Speaker 1: strongest thing we have going for us too. Like a

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Speaker 1: lot of teens, Ebbie was rebellious. She was, also, according

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Speaker 1: to her friends and family, a combination of naive and fierce.

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Speaker 1: She would do anything for a friend in need. She

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Speaker 1: would also not shy away from speaking out for people

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Speaker 1: she believed were being wronged, Like in her junior year

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Speaker 1: of high school, she defended a classmate who was wrongly

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Speaker 1: incarcerated after a gun was found in his car in

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Speaker 1: the school parking lot. Ebbie rallied her classmates and wrote

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Speaker 1: letters to help the young man get his name cleared.

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Speaker 1: In the summer of twenty fifteen, after her junior year

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Speaker 1: of high school, Ebbie's independent street kicked into high gear.

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Speaker 1: She started working first at Playtime Pizza, then at the

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Speaker 1: footlocker store in McCay Mall, which was a few miles

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Speaker 1: away in north Little Rock. She started arguing more and

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Speaker 1: more with her stepdad and her mom. Soon she was

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Speaker 1: hanging out with a new set of friends, friends that

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Speaker 1: her parents and her old friends didn't know. Ebbie had

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Speaker 1: been attending a private Magnet school called Lisa Academy for

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Speaker 1: several years. The school was and according to some of

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Speaker 1: her fellow students, it was a fairly sheltered environment. But

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Speaker 1: that summer, Ebbie told her parents that she planned to

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Speaker 1: transfer to Little Rock Central High School for her senior year.

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Speaker 1: Central High was a flashpoint in the civil rights movement.

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Speaker 1: You may recognize it from the famous case of the

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Speaker 1: Arkansas Nine. As a large public school, at Central, it

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Speaker 1: was easier for Ebby to get lost in the crowd.

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Speaker 1: She started skipping school, staying out late, and defying her parents.

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Speaker 1: More and more frustrated, Michael and Laurie laid down the law.

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Speaker 1: They told Ebbie that if she couldn't follow their rules,

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Speaker 1: she couldn't live under their roof. So Ebby made the

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Speaker 1: decision to move out. Ebbie started CouchSurfing. She would stay

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Speaker 1: with her brother, Trevor or sometimes were their grandparents or

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Speaker 1: one of her girlfriends. Talking to Laurie, it's obvious that

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Speaker 1: this was a heartbreaking decision for she and her husband

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Speaker 1: to make, but it's one that they stuck with because

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Speaker 1: they were worried that Ebbie was going off the rails.

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Speaker 1: They wanted to help her get back on the right track.

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Speaker 1: She told Trevor she was tired. She was tired of

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Speaker 1: living the way she was living. She'd seen more things

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Speaker 1: than she ever wanted to see again. He was talking

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Speaker 1: to her about not necessarily coming back home, but letting

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Speaker 1: Michael help her, letting us help her to get her ged,

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Speaker 1: get in beauty school, as getting her an apartment, helping

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Speaker 1: her just get her life going. Trevor and Michael were

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Speaker 1: talking there was gonna be a conversation that they were

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Speaker 1: going to sit down and talk to Ebbie and say, hey,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna help you get your life back, and she was.

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Speaker 1: She said she was really ready to stop. During this time,

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Speaker 1: one of the friends Ebbie was staying with was Danielle. Hello, Hey,

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Speaker 1: is this Danielle. Yes, Hey, it's Catherine Townsend. Hey. I

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Speaker 1: talked to Danielle on the phone about what Ebbie's life

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Speaker 1: was like during this time. First, I just wanted to ask,

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Speaker 1: can you tell me how you met her and what

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Speaker 1: she was like? Yeah? So, well, I had known her.

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Speaker 1: Danielle was one of Ebbie's best friends. She talked about

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Speaker 1: how when she met Ebbie, they didn't like each other

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Speaker 1: at first, probably because, as Danielle explained, they both liked

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Speaker 1: the same guy. It was nothing serious, she said, just

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Speaker 1: your typical teenage drama. They became friends a few months later.

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Speaker 1: I reached out to her via social media and I

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Speaker 1: just said, hey, I just want to apologize, you know,

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Speaker 1: for being the way that I was during said situation,

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Speaker 1: and I would really like it if we could be friends.

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Speaker 1: And she apologized back, and so anyways, that was the

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Speaker 1: beginning of us becoming friends. I mean, as far as

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Speaker 1: her personality, you know, she she had a very strong personality.

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Speaker 1: She came off one way, but like I think she

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Speaker 1: kind of did it to sort of intimidate people, like

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Speaker 1: I'm not one to be played with. Once we got

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Speaker 1: past that, I mean, she was so sweet to me,

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Speaker 1: and you know, we would hang out all the time

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Speaker 1: and we really just we enjoyed doing anything. That pretty

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Speaker 1: much got both of us out of the house. Danielle

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Speaker 1: never knew why Ebby decided to transfer from Lisa Academy

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Speaker 1: to Central High School, but she also didn't know a

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Speaker 1: lot of what Ebby was up to in the weeks

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Speaker 1: before she disappeared. After Ebbie left home, she was always

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Speaker 1: on the road in her Volkeswagon Pacade. On Tuesday, October twentieth,

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Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, Ebbie sent a message to Danielle on Snapchat.

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Speaker 1: The message read, Hey, I know this is a lot

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Speaker 1: to ask, but is there any way your mom would

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Speaker 1: let me stay the night tonight. Danielle wrote back that

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Speaker 1: that was fine. She told Ebbie to come on over

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Speaker 1: for dinner. You know, she would come here and there

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Speaker 1: would be some night she'd be like, well, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: go home for the night, you know. Of course, I

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Speaker 1: never really know she actually went home, or if she

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Speaker 1: went somewhere else, But I know for sure there were

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Speaker 1: at least a couple of nights when she said, well,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to go to a friend's house and then

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Speaker 1: I'll come back, and she just wouldn't come back. I

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Speaker 1: know there were several days when she would like skip school,

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Speaker 1: just wouldn't go. But you know, of course, again that

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Speaker 1: was one of the situations where I didn't know where

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Speaker 1: she went, or who she was with or anything like that.

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Speaker 1: On Wednesday, October twenty one, Danielle and Ebbie went together

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Speaker 1: to an event at a local church. They went home afterward,

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Speaker 1: and Ebbie spent Wednesday and Thursday nights at Danielle's house.

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Speaker 1: On Friday, October twenty three, Ebbie told Danielle that she

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Speaker 1: was going to a party. She asked Danielle if she

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Speaker 1: wanted to go with her, but Danielle said she didn't

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Speaker 1: know anyone who was going to be there, so she declined,

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Speaker 1: and something happened at that party, something that would change

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Speaker 1: the course of Ebbie's life. For several years, every time

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Speaker 1: you would see a news story about Ebbie Steppit, the

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Speaker 1: same narrative gets reported about what allegedly happened that Friday, night.

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Speaker 1: The reports say that Ebbie was gang raped by several

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Speaker 1: young men at a party, but that's not what happened.

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Speaker 1: On Friday night, Ebbie went out with a male friend

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Speaker 1: from Central High School. Together, they went over to the

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Speaker 1: home of another Central High School student in Little Rock,

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Speaker 1: and it wasn't really a party. It was just a

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Speaker 1: few friends hanging out. Ebbie, her friend, the friend they

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Speaker 1: went there to see, and two other guys. We'll never

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Speaker 1: know exactly what happened that night, but piecing together Ebbie's

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Speaker 1: text messages after the fact, it seems like what happened

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Speaker 1: to Ebby may have started out as a consensual sexual

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Speaker 1: encounter with one guy. Then at some point she thought

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Speaker 1: that the person she was having the sexual encounter with

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Speaker 1: was videotaping her without her permission. Ebbie was angry. She

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Speaker 1: texted another one of her friends, a guy named Gage.

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Speaker 1: The text read, I was hanging with some dudes last

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Speaker 1: night and we smoked and I was having sex with

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Speaker 1: one of them and he fucking recorded me, dude, like

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Speaker 1: when I wasn't looking. There is a black hole of

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Speaker 1: information about what was going on that weekend, and we're

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Speaker 1: working to try to find out what happened. But we

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00:14:56,005 --> 00:14:58,365
Speaker 1: do know that Ebby must have made her way back

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Speaker 1: to her brother Trevor's house later on Friday night, because

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Speaker 1: Trevor told Laurie that Ebby was there when he woke

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Speaker 1: up that Saturday. Now, at this point, Ebbie and her mom,

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Speaker 1: Laurie were still not communicating at all. This was part

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Speaker 1: of their agreement after Ebbie moved out, So the whole

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Speaker 1: time this was playing out, Laurie had no idea what

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Speaker 1: was happening to her daughter after that happened. That was

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Speaker 1: on a Friday night, she came home to Trevor's. He

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Speaker 1: didn't know anything that happened. He called me and asked

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Speaker 1: if Ebbie could stay with me that day, so he

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Speaker 1: had a wedding to go to and didn't want to

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Speaker 1: leave her home by herself. I said no, If she

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Speaker 1: couldn't come home, that was the deal. And I knew

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Speaker 1: if Ebbie and I saw each other, everything would break,

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Speaker 1: and then she would lie and be gone two days later,

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Speaker 1: and we'd read right back where we started from. Danielle

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Speaker 1: saw Ebbie on Saturday, the day after the party. She

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Speaker 1: said she had no idea that her friend had been

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Speaker 1: through a trauma the night before Saturday I saw her.

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Speaker 1: She came to my mom's house, but she had to leave.

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Speaker 1: She didn't tell me where she was going. She just

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Speaker 1: told me she had something that she had to take

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Speaker 1: care of and then she would be back. Ebbie never

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00:16:16,085 --> 00:16:19,285
Speaker 1: went back to Danielle's and that's the last time that

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Speaker 1: Danielle ever saw her friend. We know that she spent

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Speaker 1: the afternoon at her grandparents' house, just hanging around in

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Speaker 1: her pj's watching her favorite shows. So she went to

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Speaker 1: my mom and dad's all day until at night. She

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Speaker 1: stayed over there, slept, had a great day. My parents

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Speaker 1: didn't know anything that had happened. On Saturday evening, Laurie

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Speaker 1: and Michael were out to dinner when Laurie started feeling sick,

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Speaker 1: and then Michael got a text from Ebbie. She said,

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Speaker 1: I gotta tell you something, but don't tell mom. I

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Speaker 1: was raped and video taped and I want you to

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Speaker 1: go to the police with me, but I don't want

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Speaker 1: mom to know. And he said, okay, let me get

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Speaker 1: your mom home and then well, you know, we'll figure

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Speaker 1: out a place to meet. She said, okay, he said,

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Speaker 1: stay put. Michael was focused on getting Marie home and

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Speaker 1: then he says his plan was to meet up with

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Speaker 1: Ebbie so they could go to the police station together.

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Speaker 1: He told her to stay where she was at her

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Speaker 1: grandparents house, but Ebbie didn't stay put. Instead, she told

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Speaker 1: her grandparents that she was going out to meet Michael.

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Speaker 1: When Michael got Laurie home, he tried to get in

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Speaker 1: touch with Ebbie, but she never replied. Eventually, he called

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Speaker 1: her grandparents house, so he was calling my mom to

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Speaker 1: ask her where she was. She said she didn't know

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Speaker 1: she was going to meet him, and my mom didn't

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Speaker 1: get She wasn't alarmed because Ebbie was real flighty. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: Trevor was at a wedding, so I think that's what

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Speaker 1: Michael was thinking. There's just nothing he could do but wait.

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Speaker 1: To this day, no one in Ebbie's family knows where

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Speaker 1: she went on Saturday night. It's Sunday, October twenty five,

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Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, and it's the day after Ebbie texted her

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Speaker 1: stepdad Michael about wanting to file a sexual assault claim.

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Speaker 1: Michael had been trying to get in touch with her

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Speaker 1: so they could meet up and make a plan to

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Speaker 1: go to the police, but Ebbie never answered. Now, at

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Speaker 1: this point, Michael says he was concerned, but not panicked.

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Speaker 1: He just assumed that Ebby, like she had many times before,

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Speaker 1: gone back to her brother Trevor's house. Meanwhile, Trevor and

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Speaker 1: Ebbie's sister were calling her all day and not getting

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Speaker 1: any response. Ebbie was supposed to go to a church

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Speaker 1: event with Danielle, but she didn't show on Sunday afternoon,

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Speaker 1: is when I was at a separate church event and

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00:19:11,805 --> 00:19:14,405
Speaker 1: I got a call from her sister and she had

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00:19:14,405 --> 00:19:16,565
Speaker 1: asked me like, hey, have you talked to Ebbie? Have

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Speaker 1: you seen her? Because we haven't talked to her or

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00:19:19,005 --> 00:19:22,165
Speaker 1: heard from her, And I said no. I said, I

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Speaker 1: can go make sure that she's not at my mom's house,

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Speaker 1: you know, just in case like her phone had died

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Speaker 1: or something. So I left the event that I was

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Speaker 1: at and went to my mom's house to see if

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Speaker 1: she was there, and she wasn't. So that was kind

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Speaker 1: of once we started to realize, hey, something's up. A

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00:19:38,245 --> 00:19:41,565
Speaker 1: few hours later, Danielle got another call from Ebbe's sister.

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Speaker 1: That was when she told me about she had talked

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Speaker 1: to Trevor, and then after that we were just completely

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Speaker 1: in the dark. What she's talking about is this Trevor

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00:19:52,965 --> 00:19:56,605
Speaker 1: dialed Ebbie's number at around five thirty on Sunday afternoon.

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Speaker 1: No one answered, but then just a few minutes later,

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00:20:01,725 --> 00:20:05,005
Speaker 1: his phone rang and it was Ebby, and that phone

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00:20:05,045 --> 00:20:10,045
Speaker 1: conversation with Trevor would change everything. One of the most

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00:20:10,085 --> 00:20:13,285
Speaker 1: heartbreaking parts of this case is the fact that Trevor

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00:20:13,405 --> 00:20:16,645
Speaker 1: also passed away in twenty nineteen of a heart attack,

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00:20:17,885 --> 00:20:20,525
Speaker 1: so we can't ask him exactly what was said on

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00:20:20,525 --> 00:20:27,525
Speaker 1: this phone call. Here's what Laurie remembers. Trevor just runs

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00:20:27,565 --> 00:20:34,045
Speaker 1: in the house, bust in the house. Heys like, Mom, Mom, like,

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00:20:34,285 --> 00:20:39,805
Speaker 1: what Something's happened to Ebbie? Something has happened. And I'm like,

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Speaker 1: what what are you talking about? He was like, I

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00:20:43,725 --> 00:20:47,725
Speaker 1: was talking to her on the phone. She's somewhere. She's

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Speaker 1: fucked up, she can't talk. She's in her car. She

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00:20:52,005 --> 00:20:55,485
Speaker 1: doesn't know where she is or who's with her. But

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Speaker 1: something's happened. We got to find her, call the police.

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00:21:00,085 --> 00:21:04,085
Speaker 1: When Trevor comes in and tells me that I can't

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Speaker 1: even describe. I know that something bad is happening. And

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00:21:12,725 --> 00:21:16,565
Speaker 1: Trevor said, Mom, I just talked to her. I said

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Speaker 1: where are you and she said, I'm out in front

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Speaker 1: of your house, and Trevor's like, I hung up, walked

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Speaker 1: outside and she's not there. So I called her bag

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Speaker 1: and I said, Ebbie, you're not out in front of

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Speaker 1: my house. Where are you? And she said, I'm in

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Speaker 1: my car and I'm really fucked up. I don't know

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Speaker 1: who I'm with, I don't know where I am. And

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Speaker 1: even though she had no idea where she was and

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00:21:44,765 --> 00:21:48,165
Speaker 1: she was messed up, Ebbie knew that she was in trouble.

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Speaker 1: That's all that I know that kept going on in

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Speaker 1: the phone conversation. I could never get Trevor to tell

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Speaker 1: me every single word that was said. I wanted to

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00:22:03,645 --> 00:22:06,325
Speaker 1: know every single word, and he couldn't tell me every

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Speaker 1: single word. This is how the call with Ebbie ended.

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Speaker 1: He said, Okay, I'm gonna hang up and get Michael

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Speaker 1: to turn your location on your phone. And she said okay,

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Speaker 1: and she hung up, and that's the last that we

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00:22:22,205 --> 00:22:26,565
Speaker 1: ever heard from her, and her phone was never answered again.

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Speaker 1: At this point, Laurie and Trevor are freaking out. Laurie

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00:22:32,965 --> 00:22:36,565
Speaker 1: was trying to absorb this. This was the first time

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00:22:36,605 --> 00:22:38,765
Speaker 1: that she was hearing that her daughter may have been

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Speaker 1: sexually assaulted and now could be in serious danger and

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00:22:43,085 --> 00:22:46,125
Speaker 1: a lot of this is a blur. But Trevor's on

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00:22:46,165 --> 00:22:49,005
Speaker 1: the phone with the police. He's like, something's happened to

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00:22:49,045 --> 00:22:51,365
Speaker 1: my sister. You've got to do something. You've got to

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00:22:51,405 --> 00:22:54,565
Speaker 1: find her. And the police are like, there's nothing we

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00:22:54,605 --> 00:22:57,765
Speaker 1: can do, and he said, then put an all points

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00:22:57,765 --> 00:23:02,005
Speaker 1: bulletin out for her car because something has happened to

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00:23:02,045 --> 00:23:05,645
Speaker 1: her right now. Somebody's done something to her or was

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00:23:05,765 --> 00:23:10,605
Speaker 1: doing something to her. So, according to Laurie, the police

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00:23:10,645 --> 00:23:13,005
Speaker 1: said they would put out an all points bulletin on

348
00:23:13,045 --> 00:23:17,005
Speaker 1: the car. She says after that they didn't do anything.

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00:23:18,365 --> 00:23:21,565
Speaker 1: Trevor told Michael to track Ebbie's location on her iPhone.

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00:23:22,325 --> 00:23:25,885
Speaker 1: Michael said that he tried, but Ebbie's location services feature

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00:23:26,325 --> 00:23:30,285
Speaker 1: was turned off. Then, Laurie says they tried to report

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Speaker 1: Ebbie missing, but the police told her that she had

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00:23:33,605 --> 00:23:38,165
Speaker 1: to wait twelve hours. This is not true, but it

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00:23:38,285 --> 00:23:42,045
Speaker 1: is a common misconception that people have and because of that,

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00:23:42,685 --> 00:23:47,405
Speaker 1: crucial hours can be lost when someone goes missing. Over

356
00:23:47,445 --> 00:23:51,205
Speaker 1: the next several days, after Ebbie's phone called Trevor, her

357
00:23:51,205 --> 00:23:54,245
Speaker 1: family and friends called everyone they could think of. They

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00:23:54,365 --> 00:23:58,485
Speaker 1: papered the area with flyers, Laurie is a hairdresser and

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00:23:58,565 --> 00:24:01,085
Speaker 1: some of her clients worked in the media, so that

360
00:24:01,205 --> 00:24:05,925
Speaker 1: night had her face in car in everything on TV

361
00:24:06,205 --> 00:24:09,845
Speaker 1: that night. Ebbie was a kid who lived and breathed

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00:24:09,885 --> 00:24:14,165
Speaker 1: on social media. Her family scoured her Facebook, her Instagram,

363
00:24:14,205 --> 00:24:17,765
Speaker 1: and her Snapchat for potential clues. They also looked through

364
00:24:17,765 --> 00:24:22,445
Speaker 1: Ebbie's phone records. They found out that after that four

365
00:24:22,485 --> 00:24:27,525
Speaker 1: minute call with Trevor, all contact with Ebbie stopped. After that,

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00:24:27,925 --> 00:24:32,205
Speaker 1: her phone was never answered again. They could also see

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00:24:32,245 --> 00:24:36,485
Speaker 1: her last Instagram post. It looks like she's belted into

368
00:24:36,485 --> 00:24:40,325
Speaker 1: the passenger seat of a car, maybe her car. She's

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00:24:40,405 --> 00:24:44,245
Speaker 1: looking into the lens. The caption reads, I Know what

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00:24:44,325 --> 00:24:50,005
Speaker 1: you did. On October thirtieth, twenty fifteen, five days after

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00:24:50,005 --> 00:24:54,165
Speaker 1: Ebbie went missing, police searched Ebbie's two thousand and three

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00:24:54,285 --> 00:24:58,285
Speaker 1: silver Volkswagen Pasade. It was sitting in the parking lot

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00:24:58,445 --> 00:25:02,365
Speaker 1: of Shalamont Park, a small residential park near her home

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00:25:02,445 --> 00:25:07,085
Speaker 1: in West Little Rock. La and Michael find out to

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00:25:07,165 --> 00:25:10,805
Speaker 1: their horror that Ebby's car has been sitting there in

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00:25:10,845 --> 00:25:14,165
Speaker 1: the park since the day she disappeared, and that people

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00:25:14,205 --> 00:25:17,365
Speaker 1: in the area had been calling the police for days

378
00:25:17,485 --> 00:25:21,925
Speaker 1: about an abandoned car. It was called in every day

379
00:25:21,925 --> 00:25:27,085
Speaker 1: by the security guard by neighbors. Lee was a neighbor

380
00:25:27,245 --> 00:25:30,165
Speaker 1: who lived very close to the park and regularly took

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00:25:30,205 --> 00:25:32,525
Speaker 1: walks there in the mornings. And Lee is the one

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00:25:32,565 --> 00:25:35,605
Speaker 1: who called Laurie to tell her the police had found

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00:25:35,605 --> 00:25:39,845
Speaker 1: Ebby's car. And she calls me and says, Laurie, they're

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00:25:39,965 --> 00:25:45,245
Speaker 1: up here with Peter with the car. Peter is Ebbie's

385
00:25:45,285 --> 00:25:49,045
Speaker 1: biological father, and because both Peter's name and Ebbie's name

386
00:25:49,085 --> 00:25:51,885
Speaker 1: were on the title of the car, police called him

387
00:25:51,885 --> 00:25:56,125
Speaker 1: to let him know that the Volkswagen had been found abandoned. So,

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00:25:56,245 --> 00:25:59,845
Speaker 1: even though Ebby's family had reported her missing several days earlier,

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00:26:00,605 --> 00:26:03,125
Speaker 1: and even though there were supposed to have been an

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00:26:03,125 --> 00:26:06,365
Speaker 1: all points bulletin put out on that car, when police

391
00:26:06,445 --> 00:26:08,965
Speaker 1: called Peter to tell him that his abandoned car had

392
00:26:08,965 --> 00:26:13,005
Speaker 1: been found, police had not connected that Volkswagen to Ebby.

393
00:26:13,445 --> 00:26:17,125
Speaker 1: They called Peter and said, Peter, we have your car

394
00:26:17,205 --> 00:26:20,365
Speaker 1: up Peter, and Peter's like, what, Yeah, we have your

395
00:26:20,365 --> 00:26:23,125
Speaker 1: car up here, and he said, that's my daughter's car.

396
00:26:23,165 --> 00:26:29,045
Speaker 1: Who's missing. Who's missing. Peter raced over to the park

397
00:26:29,565 --> 00:26:35,085
Speaker 1: and met police there. This is what they found. Ebby's

398
00:26:35,125 --> 00:26:38,205
Speaker 1: car was unlocked, the keys were in the ignition, and

399
00:26:38,245 --> 00:26:40,165
Speaker 1: the car was out of gas, as if it had

400
00:26:40,165 --> 00:26:44,005
Speaker 1: been left running. All of Ebbie's personal belongings were left

401
00:26:44,045 --> 00:26:47,765
Speaker 1: in that car, her clothes, her purse, and her phone.

402
00:26:48,765 --> 00:26:52,765
Speaker 1: Her makeup, which she usually kept in pristine condition, was

403
00:26:52,845 --> 00:26:57,925
Speaker 1: broken and scattered everywhere. Laurie knew her daughter, She knew

404
00:26:57,965 --> 00:27:02,325
Speaker 1: that Ebby's entire life was in that car. She believes

405
00:27:02,405 --> 00:27:05,005
Speaker 1: Ebby would never have gotten out of that car, walked

406
00:27:05,045 --> 00:27:09,205
Speaker 1: away and left everything she owned behind, including by the way,

407
00:27:09,605 --> 00:27:13,405
Speaker 1: her contact lenses, the ones she couldn't see without, and

408
00:27:13,845 --> 00:27:16,645
Speaker 1: her phone, which she had with her all the time.

409
00:27:17,525 --> 00:27:21,965
Speaker 1: It made no sense. Michael and Trevor went to the

410
00:27:21,965 --> 00:27:25,085
Speaker 1: park to see if they could find any sign of Ebby,

411
00:27:25,165 --> 00:27:27,885
Speaker 1: but she was gone. And I don't know why she

412
00:27:27,925 --> 00:27:30,765
Speaker 1: went to the park. We didn't know anything that was

413
00:27:30,805 --> 00:27:33,845
Speaker 1: going on with her, where she was going. None of

414
00:27:33,845 --> 00:27:36,525
Speaker 1: her friends knew any of the people she was hanging

415
00:27:36,525 --> 00:27:40,525
Speaker 1: out with. No one knew anything about who she was

416
00:27:40,605 --> 00:27:45,805
Speaker 1: around or where she met him. What was Ebby doing

417
00:27:45,965 --> 00:27:48,885
Speaker 1: in Chalamont Park? Did she go there to meet someone

418
00:27:49,805 --> 00:27:52,245
Speaker 1: or had someone picked her up there and taken her

419
00:27:52,285 --> 00:27:57,005
Speaker 1: somewhere else. Her family said they had no idea. They're

420
00:27:57,045 --> 00:27:59,925
Speaker 1: open to the possibility that Ebby had been leading a

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00:27:59,925 --> 00:28:04,885
Speaker 1: whole other life that they knew nothing about. I'm Catherine Townsend.

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Speaker 1: Is Hell and Gone. Hellan Gone is a production of

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Speaker 1: School of Humans and iHeartRadio. It's written and hosted by

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Speaker 1: me Catherine Townsend and produced by Gabby Watts and Michael

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Speaker 1: dowd Our. Executive producers are Brandon Barr, Else Crowley, and

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Speaker 1: Virginia Prescott. Mix and Master is by Ryan Peoples and

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Speaker 1: our music is by Bensley. School of Humans