WEBVTT - Episode 6: A Shared Name 0:00:15.316 --> 0:00:20.836 Pushkin. Hey, it's Jake, thanks for listening to deep Cover. 0:00:21.436 --> 0:00:23.876 I'm starting to work now on season four, and I 0:00:23.956 --> 0:00:26.156 want to remind you that when you sign up for 0:00:26.196 --> 0:00:29.436 Pushkin Plus, you'll get access to binge drops of future 0:00:29.436 --> 0:00:33.196 seasons of deep Cover and exclusive content from other Pushkin 0:00:33.276 --> 0:00:36.036 true crime heads like Death of an Artist, which just 0:00:36.116 --> 0:00:39.156 wrapped its first season, as well as Lost Hills, which 0:00:39.196 --> 0:00:42.796 is returning with their third season this June. And of course, 0:00:42.996 --> 0:00:46.676 don't miss early access to Revisionist History and The Happiness Lab, 0:00:46.796 --> 0:00:49.636 which are both publishing year round for the first time 0:00:49.956 --> 0:00:53.996 in twenty twenty three. Check out Pushkin dot Fm or 0:00:54.036 --> 0:01:01.076 the Apple Show page for more information. Previously on deep Cover, 0:01:02.396 --> 0:01:04.436 I remember the Chief asking me, like, how far are 0:01:04.436 --> 0:01:08.636 you going to take this? It's said Chief, until I 0:01:08.676 --> 0:01:11.836 can interer you asked to read, I can't clear this tip. 0:01:12.996 --> 0:01:16.756 She just seemed like just an average person who got 0:01:16.836 --> 0:01:20.116 caught up in something that got bigger than what they 0:01:20.156 --> 0:01:23.516 ever planned it to be. I was already in the 0:01:23.596 --> 0:01:25.396 car and we were pulling way, and I look over 0:01:25.436 --> 0:01:27.956 and they have my whole car open, and there's many 0:01:27.956 --> 0:01:30.636 of them, and I think, I said, I know what 0:01:30.676 --> 0:01:39.636 this is about. I'm ester read. Esther's arrest brought about 0:01:39.636 --> 0:01:43.156 a reckoning. She had to face the cops, the media, 0:01:43.236 --> 0:01:46.396 and her own family. But it wasn't until she got 0:01:46.436 --> 0:01:48.956 down to South Carolina that she had to face the 0:01:48.996 --> 0:01:53.996 possibility of serious prison time. The FEDS were prosecuting her 0:01:53.996 --> 0:01:59.036 for male fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, and 0:01:59.156 --> 0:02:02.676 she got the sense that the authorities in South Carolina 0:02:02.836 --> 0:02:06.556 had become pretty invested in her case. We all knew 0:02:06.596 --> 0:02:09.556 something was going on with South Carolina, like they were 0:02:09.596 --> 0:02:15.516 a little excited about the case. Because way back when 0:02:15.516 --> 0:02:19.916 this investigation first started, before things got crazy, before all 0:02:19.956 --> 0:02:25.756 the spy theories, before the media frenzy, before the nationwide manhunt. Originally, 0:02:25.996 --> 0:02:29.996 the Copson travelers rest South Carolina were interested in one thing, 0:02:30.276 --> 0:02:36.556 and one thing only, what happened to Brooke. For Esther Reid, 0:02:36.836 --> 0:02:39.676 this whole saga had been about finding a new self. 0:02:40.316 --> 0:02:42.836 For her, the name Brooke Henson was a ticket to 0:02:42.876 --> 0:02:45.956 a new life, but she shared that name with a 0:02:45.996 --> 0:02:49.996 young woman whose disappearance was still felt and for people 0:02:50.076 --> 0:02:55.836 in South Carolina, that same name Brooke Henson conjured heartache 0:02:56.116 --> 0:03:00.636 and a lingering sense of injustice. In some ways, Esther 0:03:00.796 --> 0:03:02.996 had no idea what was in store for her in 0:03:03.036 --> 0:03:07.436 South Carolina, what she had walked into, because there the 0:03:07.516 --> 0:03:11.596 real Brooke Henson had I've been forgotten. They held candlelight 0:03:11.716 --> 0:03:14.356 vigils in her memory in front of the police department 0:03:14.356 --> 0:03:18.836 and Traveler's Rest. Friends and family commemorated her. The local 0:03:18.876 --> 0:03:22.316 media ran stories on her, the local cops were looking 0:03:22.316 --> 0:03:26.556 for answers, and the federal prosecutor wanted his day in 0:03:26.676 --> 0:03:30.796 court for all of them. This story was far from over, 0:03:31.436 --> 0:03:51.876 and now all eyes were on Esther Reid. I'm Jake 0:03:51.916 --> 0:03:56.836 Halbern and this is deep Cover Season three, Never Seen 0:03:56.916 --> 0:04:27.116 Again Episode six, our season finale, a shared name. Once 0:04:27.316 --> 0:04:30.636 Esther was moved down to South Carolina, two cops from 0:04:30.636 --> 0:04:33.916 Traveler's Rest paid her a visit. They wanted to talk 0:04:33.956 --> 0:04:37.836 about Brooke Henson, to see what Esther knew about her disappearance. 0:04:38.476 --> 0:04:40.876 The truth, of course, was that Esther didn't know a 0:04:40.956 --> 0:04:44.596 thing about how or why Brooke went missing. She'd simply 0:04:44.596 --> 0:04:48.636 found Brooke's name on the internet. Still, the cops they 0:04:48.716 --> 0:04:52.316 wanted to talk. These two cops showed up where Esther 0:04:52.476 --> 0:04:56.316 was being held. Esther's lawyer was there too. As soon 0:04:56.356 --> 0:04:59.036 as the cops entered the room, Esther gave them a 0:04:59.116 --> 0:05:03.036 handwritten statement on white lined paper saying that she had 0:05:03.116 --> 0:05:06.916 nothing to do with Brooke's disappearance. And they start talking 0:05:06.956 --> 0:05:08.836 and they're like, well, would you be willing to submit 0:05:08.876 --> 0:05:12.396 to a lie detector tests? At this point, Esther freaked. 0:05:13.036 --> 0:05:16.156 Given her high levels of anxiety, she worried she would 0:05:16.236 --> 0:05:20.076 fail the test. Plus lie detector tests aren't liable to 0:05:20.076 --> 0:05:23.476 begin with. I remember I started having a panic attack, 0:05:23.476 --> 0:05:28.076 and like I couldn't breathe, and I started like ripping 0:05:28.076 --> 0:05:31.156 my clothes because I couldn't breathe. I had a jump 0:05:31.196 --> 0:05:33.956 suit on, and I was like scratching my neck and 0:05:33.996 --> 0:05:37.396 I ended up back in the back corner, huddled down, hyperventilating, 0:05:37.436 --> 0:05:39.836 and they just got out in the room and backed 0:05:39.876 --> 0:05:42.236 away and probably left me alone for like fifteen minutes 0:05:42.236 --> 0:05:45.116 so I could calm down. In the end, the cops 0:05:45.316 --> 0:05:48.596 were apparently satisfied that Esther wasn't to blame for Brooke 0:05:48.676 --> 0:05:52.036 going missing, in part because Esther was able to demonstrate 0:05:52.076 --> 0:05:54.836 that she was living in Seattle at the time. But 0:05:55.036 --> 0:05:58.236 even if she wasn't a murder suspect, Esther was still 0:05:58.276 --> 0:06:02.556 facing charges for identity theft and fraud. She decided to 0:06:02.596 --> 0:06:06.436 take a plea. So now it was all about the sentencing, 0:06:07.636 --> 0:06:09.476 and there were still a lot of people in vested 0:06:09.516 --> 0:06:12.636 in the outcome, not just the prosecutor and the media, 0:06:12.756 --> 0:06:16.396 but also Brooke's family. Her parents kept a low profile, 0:06:16.836 --> 0:06:19.996 but one of her aunts, Lisa Henson, sort of became 0:06:20.076 --> 0:06:23.316 the public face of the family. During the height of 0:06:23.316 --> 0:06:26.596 the media frenzy. Aunt Lisa did interviews with the press, 0:06:26.916 --> 0:06:31.956 including CNN. She basically said that Esther's ruse had led 0:06:31.956 --> 0:06:34.636 her to believe falsely for a period of time that 0:06:34.756 --> 0:06:37.916 her niece was alive, and that when she learned the truth, 0:06:38.356 --> 0:06:43.076 she was devastated all over again. Aunt Lisa decided to 0:06:43.116 --> 0:06:45.676 speak when it came time for Esther to be sentenced, 0:06:46.036 --> 0:06:48.876 to talk about the effect that Esther's actions had on 0:06:49.036 --> 0:06:54.196 her personally. The sentencing took place at the Federal courthouse 0:06:54.196 --> 0:06:58.196 in Greenville. CBS ran a story on the proceedings, and 0:06:58.316 --> 0:07:00.516 that helped me fill out some of the details of 0:07:00.516 --> 0:07:04.516 what happened that day. Esther was marched into the courtroom 0:07:04.596 --> 0:07:08.236 and handcuffs and leg shackles. She wore a red prison 0:07:08.316 --> 0:07:11.716 jumpsuit and her long brown hair was tied in a ponytail. 0:07:12.596 --> 0:07:15.236 The whole day or being sentenced is very surreal. I 0:07:15.276 --> 0:07:17.756 think the young man who got sentenced right before me 0:07:17.956 --> 0:07:20.516 got forty eight years or something, and I had just 0:07:20.596 --> 0:07:23.756 seen the judge like scream at him, and an attorney 0:07:23.836 --> 0:07:27.516 for him was screaming back. Eventually it was Esther's turn. 0:07:28.076 --> 0:07:31.156 She remembers coming to the front of the courtroom. Esther 0:07:31.316 --> 0:07:33.876 knew that Aunt Lisa was off to the right, but 0:07:34.116 --> 0:07:36.636 she didn't really see her because she had been told 0:07:36.676 --> 0:07:39.636 that a defendant should never look directly at a victim. 0:07:40.636 --> 0:07:43.876 When she spoke in court, Aunt Lisa kind of talked 0:07:43.876 --> 0:07:48.436 directly to Esther. She said, nothing can bring our brook home, 0:07:49.036 --> 0:07:51.516 but to know that you are not violating her now 0:07:51.916 --> 0:07:55.716 gives our family a sense of relief. Esther also made 0:07:55.756 --> 0:08:00.156 a brief statement. She took responsibility for her actions and 0:08:00.196 --> 0:08:04.156 then asked the court for mercy, saying I was desperate 0:08:04.196 --> 0:08:07.356 to escape an environment I felt I could not survive. 0:08:08.676 --> 0:08:12.116 Esther's lawyer also made a case for leniency, but it 0:08:12.156 --> 0:08:14.916 didn't seem to go over well with the judge. And 0:08:15.076 --> 0:08:18.196 I remember he's interrupting her and won't let her presents 0:08:18.356 --> 0:08:21.076 her argument, and I remember just thinking, oh my god, 0:08:21.076 --> 0:08:27.116 this is really going to go badly, and then the 0:08:27.236 --> 0:08:31.796 judge started to talk. Esther braced herself. She focused on 0:08:31.836 --> 0:08:35.076 the federal seal, you know, with a great, big eagle, 0:08:35.516 --> 0:08:38.756 that was displayed at the front of the courtroom. He 0:08:38.836 --> 0:08:41.596 starts telling me basically why he's going to sentence me 0:08:41.676 --> 0:08:44.356 the way he is. I just remember looking at the 0:08:44.396 --> 0:08:49.036 seal and talking to my mom. The judge continued with 0:08:49.076 --> 0:08:53.396 his remarks. Referring to Esther, he told the courtroom she 0:08:53.836 --> 0:08:57.316 is a scheming criminal who has taken advantage of people's 0:08:57.316 --> 0:09:02.476 identities and institutions. And then at some point he said, 0:09:02.516 --> 0:09:04.516 I'm going to sentence you. And at that point I 0:09:05.036 --> 0:09:08.116 lifted my eyes up and I remember he started to say, 0:09:08.356 --> 0:09:12.996 I think a guideline sentence in this case is acceptable, 0:09:12.996 --> 0:09:16.516 and then I just read a sigh of relief. In 0:09:16.516 --> 0:09:19.596 this case, the federal guidelines led the judge to give 0:09:19.636 --> 0:09:23.596 a sentence of fifty one months, a little over four years. 0:09:25.476 --> 0:09:27.836 She was also ordered to repay one hundred and twenty 0:09:27.836 --> 0:09:31.476 five thousand dollars in debts, mainly student loans that she 0:09:31.516 --> 0:09:35.676 had accumulated in Brooke's name. That also included eighteen thousand 0:09:35.676 --> 0:09:39.076 dollars in restitution to J. C. Penny where she had 0:09:39.116 --> 0:09:42.796 run that receipt scam, and then she was marched back 0:09:42.836 --> 0:09:49.396 out of the courtroom in her shackles. Afterwards, Aunt Lisa 0:09:49.476 --> 0:09:51.916 told the press that the sentence was not long enough. 0:09:52.476 --> 0:09:54.956 She lamented that Esther would not look her in the eyes, 0:09:55.356 --> 0:09:58.876 and then added, she sly like a fox, she doesn't 0:09:58.916 --> 0:10:07.836 want to face anybody who she's done wrong. Esther ended 0:10:07.916 --> 0:10:12.596 up serving time a minimum security federal prison camp. There, 0:10:12.876 --> 0:10:15.516 she had time to think, to reflect on her life. 0:10:16.036 --> 0:10:19.316 She wrote letters, She reconnected with her brother EJ. And 0:10:19.396 --> 0:10:23.036 her father too back in Montana. She read books and 0:10:23.116 --> 0:10:27.396 took long walks around the prison's outdoor track. She'd gotten 0:10:27.436 --> 0:10:30.676 there to that moment, in that place because she had 0:10:30.716 --> 0:10:33.796 been trying to escape her own past, and she chose 0:10:33.836 --> 0:10:38.316 to do that through a series of deceptions. I lied 0:10:38.476 --> 0:10:43.956 and lied and lied and lied because I was in danger, 0:10:45.676 --> 0:10:49.196 in mentally in danger right like I was not mentally 0:10:49.276 --> 0:10:52.636 healthy in the environment I was living in, and I 0:10:52.716 --> 0:10:55.556 knew I needed to get out of that. She says, 0:10:55.716 --> 0:10:58.836 looking back, it was a terrible way to handle things, 0:10:59.276 --> 0:11:03.156 and that many people were harmed by her actions. You 0:11:03.156 --> 0:11:08.716 know my pain was visited, My trauma was visited on 0:11:08.756 --> 0:11:12.516 so many people. My actions caused damage to so many people, 0:11:13.196 --> 0:11:19.876 and it's a burden to to know you harmed people 0:11:22.476 --> 0:11:24.996 and to not be able to do anything about it. 0:11:26.316 --> 0:11:30.196 During her time in prison, Esther often thought about Brooke Henson. 0:11:31.076 --> 0:11:34.156 Esther says she always felt a certain kinship with her 0:11:34.876 --> 0:11:37.996 based on what she had read about Brooke online. She 0:11:38.116 --> 0:11:41.356 knew they'd both struggled as teenagers and dropped out of 0:11:41.396 --> 0:11:45.236 high school, and she also thought a lot about Brook's mother. 0:11:46.236 --> 0:11:50.276 Esther worried that by stealing Brook's identity, she dredged up 0:11:50.316 --> 0:11:54.036 the past and caused her pain. I think because I 0:11:54.076 --> 0:12:03.556 lost my mom, and so I understand the pain doesn't 0:12:03.596 --> 0:12:08.556 go away, there's no healing, and so the thought that 0:12:08.676 --> 0:12:15.356 my acts made that agony worse for her it's really hard, 0:12:18.036 --> 0:12:20.156 I think, because I'm intimately aware of what it's like 0:12:20.276 --> 0:12:22.796 to miss the person you loved most in the world. 0:12:31.076 --> 0:12:35.516 In two and eleven, Esther was released. The prison bought 0:12:35.516 --> 0:12:38.356 her a bus ticket back to Portland, Oregon, where her 0:12:38.396 --> 0:12:42.156 brother and sister were now living. There were no journalists 0:12:42.236 --> 0:12:45.916 or news crews waiting as she left, no fanfare of 0:12:45.916 --> 0:12:49.516 any kind. She was just a woman on a bus 0:12:49.516 --> 0:13:05.276 headed west back into obscurity. We'll be right back. The 0:13:05.356 --> 0:13:09.436 man who started this whole investigation was John Campbell, the 0:13:09.516 --> 0:13:14.436 small town detective from Traveler's Rest, South Carolina. Over the 0:13:14.476 --> 0:13:18.516 course of his investigation, John became convinced that Esther Reid 0:13:18.836 --> 0:13:22.356 was a spy. He'd enlisted the help of the Secret Service. 0:13:22.756 --> 0:13:28.076 He'd contacted Army CID its Criminal Investigation Division, and he'd 0:13:28.116 --> 0:13:32.796 pursued every possible lead, telling his chief and Traveler's Rest 0:13:32.996 --> 0:13:37.676 that he couldn't and wouldn't rest until he himself questioned Esther. 0:13:38.676 --> 0:13:42.156 But that day it never came. By the time that 0:13:42.196 --> 0:13:45.916 the authorities arrested Esther, John was no longer working for 0:13:45.956 --> 0:13:49.236 the Traveler's Rest p D. He'd taken another job in 0:13:49.316 --> 0:13:52.676 law enforcement, and so he never got a chance to 0:13:52.756 --> 0:13:57.516 question her, which was hugely frustrating for John. In fact, 0:13:57.796 --> 0:14:00.876 when I visited John in South Carolina this past summer, 0:14:01.276 --> 0:14:03.916 he told me that he still believed in his spy 0:14:04.036 --> 0:14:08.356 theories that they might be true. Honestly, this kind of 0:14:08.396 --> 0:14:12.036 amazed me. There were so many holes in this theory. 0:14:12.596 --> 0:14:16.476 There was no actual proof of espionage. The prosecutors never 0:14:16.516 --> 0:14:19.156 pursued it, and of course it never came up in 0:14:19.236 --> 0:14:23.876 court because the case never went to trial. But John says, 0:14:24.396 --> 0:14:27.556 that's exactly the point she did in a spy move. 0:14:28.556 --> 0:14:32.876 She pleded straight up to all the chargers and never 0:14:32.916 --> 0:14:36.036 answered any questions about what she did, never had anything 0:14:36.036 --> 0:14:40.316 in open court. So that's brilliant. In one of my 0:14:40.396 --> 0:14:44.676 many conversations with John, I asked him point blank, wasn't 0:14:44.716 --> 0:14:48.516 there a much simpler explanation than espionage, one that made 0:14:48.636 --> 0:14:52.916 fewer leaps of logic? He said, Oh, you're talking about 0:14:53.116 --> 0:14:58.036 Akham's razor. In case you're not familiar with that theory, 0:14:58.356 --> 0:15:02.516 it basically says, if you're debating between multiple competing theories, 0:15:02.916 --> 0:15:07.356 the one that makes the fewest assumptions is usually correct. Yeah, 0:15:07.396 --> 0:15:10.876 I told John, Aham's rais is exactly what I'm talking about, 0:15:12.796 --> 0:15:16.236 John being John quickly made a reference to The X Files, 0:15:16.276 --> 0:15:19.716 the show he loves about the paranormal. You know the 0:15:19.796 --> 0:15:23.556 truth is out there anyway. In one episode, one of 0:15:23.556 --> 0:15:28.116 the agents refers to Akham's Raiser as quote Akham's principle 0:15:28.436 --> 0:15:32.876 of limited imagination. John told me that all too often 0:15:33.436 --> 0:15:38.676 law enforcement officials lacked imagination. We close our mind off 0:15:38.716 --> 0:15:43.556 to anything but the facts. And if you close down 0:15:44.356 --> 0:15:48.516 all those possibilities, you're going to miss something. Isn't it possible? 0:15:48.596 --> 0:15:50.996 The danger as though, that your imagination runs away with 0:15:51.036 --> 0:15:54.236 things and leads you too far from the facts. Could 0:15:54.396 --> 0:15:56.156 you could? Yeah, you always have to have somebody to 0:15:56.236 --> 0:15:59.956 rain you in if you get too far out. But 0:16:00.076 --> 0:16:02.116 so who rained you in when you were a traveler's rest? 0:16:02.676 --> 0:16:07.876 You know, in this particular thing, the ester read case, 0:16:09.236 --> 0:16:19.116 there wasn't. I don't remember anybody rained yet. John is 0:16:19.156 --> 0:16:22.636 also haunted by another mystery. He still wants to know 0:16:22.916 --> 0:16:26.716 what happened to Brooke Henson. He believes that Brooke was murdered. 0:16:27.196 --> 0:16:29.356 So it is virtually everyone that I talked to in 0:16:29.476 --> 0:16:33.836 Traveler's Rest, including the town's current chief of police. His 0:16:33.956 --> 0:16:37.116 name is Ben Ford. Chief Ford has been trying to 0:16:37.116 --> 0:16:40.676 solve this case, even though at this point it's been 0:16:40.716 --> 0:16:44.836 cold for more than twenty years. He talks regularly with John, 0:16:45.276 --> 0:16:48.516 even though John's not officially part of the investigation anymore. 0:16:49.396 --> 0:16:53.516 The two men seemed to share an obsession. Chief Ford 0:16:53.596 --> 0:16:57.116 took command in twenty and eighteen, and right away he 0:16:57.236 --> 0:17:00.556 made this case a top priority. At one point, he 0:17:00.676 --> 0:17:04.716 searched Brook's old home looking for clues. John Campbell was 0:17:04.756 --> 0:17:08.636 there too. They hope that maybe, just maybe they might 0:17:08.676 --> 0:17:11.956 find an important clue that had been overlooked, a clue 0:17:11.956 --> 0:17:15.556 that would break the whole case open. They didn't find it. 0:17:16.396 --> 0:17:19.516 They also began another round of interviews, trying to find 0:17:19.596 --> 0:17:22.956 someone who might know what happened to Brooke. One person 0:17:22.996 --> 0:17:27.196 of interest was Ricky Shawn Shirley. He was Brooke's boyfriend 0:17:27.836 --> 0:17:30.076 and he was with her the night that she went missing. 0:17:30.636 --> 0:17:33.236 If you recall, Brooke left him a note that night 0:17:33.356 --> 0:17:38.796 saying follow me if you care. Chief Ford hoped that 0:17:38.876 --> 0:17:42.036 Sean Shirley might finally sit down with him and tell 0:17:42.116 --> 0:17:46.716 him everything he knew. But that never happened, Remember I 0:17:46.876 --> 0:17:50.596 told you. As part of the renewed investigation, the cops 0:17:50.596 --> 0:17:56.436 searched Brook's old house. That happened September thirtieth, twenty nineteen. 0:17:57.356 --> 0:18:02.796 Well a day later, Sean Shirley died, and then a 0:18:02.916 --> 0:18:08.076 mysterious video was posted online. It's no longer up, but 0:18:08.156 --> 0:18:10.876 I found someone who had a copy of it. In 0:18:10.876 --> 0:18:14.556 this video, you can see Sean Shirley sitting by himself 0:18:14.836 --> 0:18:18.596 in a darkened room. He's staring dead ahead like he's 0:18:18.596 --> 0:18:22.276 in a trance. Then he turns to the camera and whispers. 0:18:22.756 --> 0:18:25.476 When you listen carefully, it sounds like he might be 0:18:25.516 --> 0:18:31.356 saying help. Then the video ends. It's extremely creepy and 0:18:31.476 --> 0:18:35.036 it's hard to know what to make of it. According 0:18:35.036 --> 0:18:39.156 to the local police, Sean's death was ruled an accidental overdose. 0:18:40.036 --> 0:18:45.516 Button true Traveler's Rest fashion dark theories spin The video 0:18:45.636 --> 0:18:49.516 is fueled speculation that maybe his death wasn't an accident, 0:18:50.356 --> 0:18:54.516 maybe something more sinister happened, but those are just speculations. 0:18:55.636 --> 0:18:59.076 The bottom line Sean Shirley, the guy people hoped had 0:18:59.116 --> 0:19:06.876 the answers, he was now dead. At this point, both 0:19:06.956 --> 0:19:10.196 Chief Ford and John Campbell believe that if they could 0:19:10.196 --> 0:19:13.796 only find Brooks remains, they might solve this crime once 0:19:13.836 --> 0:19:17.076 and for all. They have theories about where to look, 0:19:17.396 --> 0:19:21.396 one place in particular, and the frustrating part is they 0:19:21.436 --> 0:19:27.156 just can't get to it. When I was in Traveler's Rest, 0:19:27.716 --> 0:19:30.756 John Campbell took me there to the spot where he 0:19:30.796 --> 0:19:34.356 thinks Brooke may have been buried. To get there, we 0:19:34.396 --> 0:19:36.836 hopped in his suv and took a drive down a 0:19:36.916 --> 0:19:41.436 lonely road. The tidy streets of town quickly morphed into deep, 0:19:41.636 --> 0:19:46.036 thick woods. You can get an idea about how big 0:19:46.076 --> 0:19:48.996 the area is, how what a vast amount of land 0:19:49.036 --> 0:19:54.876 there is, and how sporadic the houses are. So let's 0:19:54.876 --> 0:19:57.436 you're talking about late at night. If you had to 0:19:57.476 --> 0:19:59.156 get rid of a body out here, in the chances 0:19:59.156 --> 0:20:01.116 of you're running into anybody everybody's seeing, it would be 0:20:01.156 --> 0:20:05.076 pretty pretty slam. Eventually, John pulls his car over to 0:20:05.156 --> 0:20:07.716 this side of the road. We're pretty high up on 0:20:07.716 --> 0:20:10.036 a hillside at this point, and we have a view 0:20:10.356 --> 0:20:13.276 down onto a sprawling field with a bunch of large 0:20:13.396 --> 0:20:19.196 concrete structures. This is This is a typical water trap plant, 0:20:19.196 --> 0:20:23.276 and there's a couple covered domes where water is treated. 0:20:23.796 --> 0:20:29.076 This is the watershed for Greenville City. When Brooke Henson 0:20:29.116 --> 0:20:33.116 went missing back in nineteen ninety nine, this water treatment 0:20:33.156 --> 0:20:36.996 plant was still being built, and both John and Chief 0:20:37.036 --> 0:20:39.956 Ford have gotten a number of tips over the years 0:20:39.996 --> 0:20:43.476 that this is where her body was buried, interred in 0:20:43.516 --> 0:20:47.516 the concrete. They've learned that several people who are with 0:20:47.596 --> 0:20:50.476 Brook on the night that she vanished were working here 0:20:50.876 --> 0:20:54.596 building the plant, so they would have had easy access 0:20:54.636 --> 0:20:58.316 and could have hid her body and freshly poured concrete. 0:20:58.996 --> 0:21:02.556 The problem is there's so much concrete in this facility, 0:21:03.156 --> 0:21:05.276 tons and tons of it, that it would be very 0:21:05.276 --> 0:21:08.796 difficult to find her remains. Now, in recent years, with 0:21:09.196 --> 0:21:12.676 vances in technology, there are some really good ground penetrating 0:21:12.756 --> 0:21:16.716 radars which might help a lot, But so far the 0:21:16.756 --> 0:21:21.516 town hasn't been able to make this happen. There's one 0:21:21.636 --> 0:21:25.316 final reason that John thinks that Brooks body maybe here 0:21:25.556 --> 0:21:29.556 at the water treatment plant. He says, every time he 0:21:29.596 --> 0:21:34.036 comes up here, he's being watched, and that right then 0:21:34.276 --> 0:21:37.596 when I was standing with him, we were being watched. 0:21:38.236 --> 0:21:40.996 We've already been spotted because three or four cars have 0:21:41.116 --> 0:21:43.556 passed by here and they're calling around. Is already somebody 0:21:43.556 --> 0:21:46.076 shaking their shoes that we're looking? Come on, do you 0:21:46.116 --> 0:21:48.636 really believe that that has happened over and over and 0:21:48.676 --> 0:21:53.196 over again every time we've come up here, John says. 0:21:53.276 --> 0:21:56.476 The proof is that every time he or Chief Ford 0:21:56.556 --> 0:21:59.836 come up here, right away someone dials up the police 0:21:59.876 --> 0:22:03.556 department and says, you're looking in the wrong place. The 0:22:03.596 --> 0:22:06.836 body's not there. Those people watch just trying to throw 0:22:06.876 --> 0:22:10.036 you off the trail. Yeah, this is Look at this 0:22:10.276 --> 0:22:14.076 somebody slowing down. What's going on? That's that's the rumor 0:22:14.196 --> 0:22:16.276 mail right there that if it wasn't the three cars 0:22:16.316 --> 0:22:19.076 before that one's calling already, that was a painting truck. 0:22:19.116 --> 0:22:21.956 That was like, already know somebody, and they're calling somebody 0:22:21.956 --> 0:22:26.196 who knows somebody. That's hard for me to believe. Well, 0:22:27.356 --> 0:22:29.836 what it does for me is it tells me that 0:22:29.836 --> 0:22:32.956 this is this is a tip that hasn't been fully vetted. 0:22:33.916 --> 0:22:36.796 And until we drag a sled down air and get 0:22:38.036 --> 0:22:41.676 an image that what's under that concrete, then this tip 0:22:41.796 --> 0:22:56.156 is still not completely vetted. You can probably tell I 0:22:56.356 --> 0:22:59.556 didn't buy John's whole theory about us being watched and 0:22:59.716 --> 0:23:02.316 that someone would call in and say, you boys are 0:23:02.356 --> 0:23:05.756 looking at the wrong place. It felt too much like well, 0:23:05.996 --> 0:23:11.596 an episode of the X Files. But then lo and behold, 0:23:12.276 --> 0:23:14.916 when we checked in with Chief Ford, he told us 0:23:15.036 --> 0:23:17.916 that when we were up there, his phone rang and 0:23:17.996 --> 0:23:20.596 an informant called in with a tip saying that the 0:23:20.716 --> 0:23:26.596 body was buried elsewhere. It was a surreal moment, felt 0:23:26.596 --> 0:23:29.716 a shiver run up my spine, and I started wondering 0:23:30.316 --> 0:23:33.796 who else in this town was watching us or watching me, 0:23:34.556 --> 0:23:39.476 and what did they know about brooks disappearance. For a moment, 0:23:39.716 --> 0:23:41.516 I felt like I was in one of those movies 0:23:41.596 --> 0:23:44.756 where the journalists asks too many questions and then late 0:23:44.796 --> 0:23:48.396 at night, there's a knock at the door. Silly, I know, 0:23:49.076 --> 0:23:53.716 but that's the thing about conspiracy theories. They're seductive. They 0:23:53.796 --> 0:23:59.876 kind of cast a spell on you. Later that evening, 0:23:59.996 --> 0:24:02.876 I got back to my Airbnb and came to my senses, 0:24:03.476 --> 0:24:07.116 took a shower, had a beer, called my wife. But 0:24:07.916 --> 0:24:10.236 I'm not going to lie to you. Some part of 0:24:10.236 --> 0:24:12.956 me kept on waiting for a knock on the door. 0:24:20.076 --> 0:24:22.996 For the Henson family, at least the members I spoke with, 0:24:23.516 --> 0:24:27.196 the lack of closure is hard. Brooks' parents have both 0:24:27.196 --> 0:24:30.996 passed away, but her cousins, Pattie and Holly Henson, have 0:24:31.116 --> 0:24:33.716 spent years trying to keep the memory of their cousin 0:24:33.756 --> 0:24:37.476 alive and hoping that maybe they'll find out what happened 0:24:37.476 --> 0:24:40.316 to her. They told me that they did not harbor 0:24:40.396 --> 0:24:45.116 bad feelings towards Esther Reid, a real contrast to Aunt Lisa. 0:24:45.276 --> 0:24:48.796 They said that, if anything, they were grateful that Esther's story, 0:24:48.996 --> 0:24:52.476 with all its notoriety, had drawn attention to brookes case, 0:24:53.276 --> 0:24:54.956 not that it's done a lot of good so far. 0:24:55.516 --> 0:24:58.796 They hoped for a while that Brook's old boyfriend, Sean Shirley, 0:24:58.876 --> 0:25:01.996 might come forward with new information, or that the police 0:25:01.996 --> 0:25:06.516 would finally break the case open. It's been frustrating for them. 0:25:06.636 --> 0:25:10.156 I asked cousin Holly about the investigation as it now stands. 0:25:10.836 --> 0:25:15.756 How optimistic or confident do you feel that they're ever 0:25:15.836 --> 0:25:18.796 going to find out what happened to Brooke and where 0:25:18.796 --> 0:25:23.276 her body may be. Not very confident at all. I 0:25:23.316 --> 0:25:28.396 don't think they will. Why do you say that it's 0:25:28.476 --> 0:25:33.916 been this long Sean Shirley is now dead. I feel 0:25:33.956 --> 0:25:38.716 like when he died, I remember having tears because I 0:25:38.836 --> 0:25:42.436 was like, well it's over now, We're never gonna find Brooke. 0:25:43.196 --> 0:25:45.756 I asked cousin Patty what it would mean to her 0:25:46.036 --> 0:25:49.316 if they could find Brooks remains. I feel like it 0:25:49.316 --> 0:25:53.716 would mean everything. I feel like she deserves justice. She 0:25:53.796 --> 0:25:56.796 didn't ask for what happened to her. She was a 0:25:56.836 --> 0:26:02.996 free spirit just because she liked a party and hung 0:26:02.996 --> 0:26:06.436 out with the wrong crowd. She didn't deserve to be 0:26:08.596 --> 0:26:12.396 just dumped and forgot about. I'm sure if that was 0:26:12.716 --> 0:26:18.756 your daughters, you know you wouldn't want that either. By 0:26:18.796 --> 0:26:23.756 most accounts, the investigation into Brooke Henson's disappearance failed very 0:26:23.756 --> 0:26:28.076 early on. John Campbell told me that initially the Traveler's 0:26:28.156 --> 0:26:31.796 Rest Police department didn't recognize this as a possible murder, 0:26:32.036 --> 0:26:34.356 and by the time they got serious about all this, 0:26:34.876 --> 0:26:39.156 they missed their best chance to solve the case. I 0:26:39.276 --> 0:26:42.636 heard versions of this from other people too, who Traveler's Rest. 0:26:43.396 --> 0:26:45.916 They told me that because Brooke was a high school 0:26:45.996 --> 0:26:49.036 dropout and seen as a party girl, that her case 0:26:49.156 --> 0:26:53.476 wasn't taken seriously, at least at first. Brook story only 0:26:53.516 --> 0:26:56.076 truly caught the attention of the public in a big 0:26:56.116 --> 0:27:02.596 way when it intersected with Esther reads. It's interesting because 0:27:03.116 --> 0:27:05.836 Esther was also a high school dropout who for a 0:27:05.876 --> 0:27:09.676 long time existed in the margins of society, living a 0:27:09.716 --> 0:27:13.916 transient life, struggling with her social anxiety. It was only 0:27:13.916 --> 0:27:17.076 when she fled Columbia University and was depicted as a 0:27:17.156 --> 0:27:21.836 spy and a seductress that suddenly everyone seemed to care. 0:27:42.476 --> 0:27:45.716 Sun is shining, and Spokane it is for the first 0:27:45.716 --> 0:27:49.156 time in a week. Well did shine yesterday, but before 0:27:49.196 --> 0:27:54.716 that it was not funny. This past spring, I spent 0:27:54.756 --> 0:27:58.236 a week with Esther in Spokane, Washington. That's where she 0:27:58.316 --> 0:28:01.676 lives these days. On this occasion, I was driving with 0:28:01.716 --> 0:28:04.796 her to work. Everybody here is very very nice. I 0:28:04.876 --> 0:28:08.436 noticed that super friendly when about running or walking. Yeah, 0:28:08.556 --> 0:28:11.156 that part is familiar to how To where I grew 0:28:11.236 --> 0:28:15.596 up in Montana. Everybody's very nice and kind. For the 0:28:15.676 --> 0:28:19.796