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Speaker 1: Pushkin.

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Speaker 2: She sat on the top step and I looked out

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Speaker 2: that window got my husband. By the time I got

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Speaker 2: my husband to look out the window, she was gone

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Speaker 2: and we looked out the front. We never did find

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Speaker 2: her sere again.

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Speaker 1: This is Karen Smith.

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Speaker 2: My name is Karen Smith, and I saw my Terce

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Speaker 2: richardson the last day that she was seen by anyone

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Speaker 2: that has come forward.

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Speaker 1: The Smith's house is at the bottom of Cold Canyon Road.

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Speaker 1: It's the tennis courthouse in Montanito. Karen had been reluctant

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Speaker 1: to let me come over. Her husband, Bill, was the

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Speaker 1: TV reporter who'd called the cops about a prowler in

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Speaker 1: the yard and what turned out to be the last

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Speaker 1: confirmed sighting of my trees. He passed away a few

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Speaker 1: years ago, and she wasn't feeling her best.

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Speaker 2: I found cheese, bad hips, bad shoulder. I'm a mess.

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Speaker 1: She walked me around the side of the house to

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Speaker 1: the back and we sat down on a couple of

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Speaker 1: white plastic chairs. The patio was strewn with dark feathers.

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Speaker 2: Probably the vultures, the Turkey vultures that like to land

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Speaker 2: on my tennis court lights and leave me a gift

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Speaker 2: every time they take off. Well, that's very The tennis

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Speaker 2: court has all these white blotches right below the lights.

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Speaker 2: They liked to open their wings in the morning and

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Speaker 2: dry them.

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Speaker 1: Beyond the patio was a large dusty yard with a

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Speaker 1: sun bleached plastic play structure left over from her son's childhood.

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Speaker 1: There were some railroad ties serving as steps. That's where

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Speaker 1: Karen saw my trees around six thirty am on the

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Speaker 1: morning of her disappearance. And it was Karen, even though

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Speaker 1: her husband Bill, talking to the cops, described the scene

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Speaker 1: as if he'd been the one to see her.

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Speaker 2: He's the one that talked to the sheriffs. Mostly. I

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Speaker 2: was being quiet, and he was a news reporter for

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Speaker 2: thirty five years, so he took control of the discussion.

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Speaker 2: And maybe they just assumed because my son said the

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Speaker 2: same thing, No, Dad saw her, and I go, no,

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Speaker 2: it was me. I'm the one that saw her. She

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Speaker 2: was sitting on the top step here or in the back,

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Speaker 2: and it was unusual because nobody really comes on the property,

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Speaker 2: even though we don't have any offenses in the back

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Speaker 2: of it. But I looked down and I said, are

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Speaker 2: you all right? And she said, I'm just resting, And

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Speaker 2: I said okay, And then I left went to get

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Speaker 2: my husband, and by the time I got to the

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Speaker 2: other bathroom window, she was gone. And then I looked

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Speaker 2: out the front window of the dining room to see

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Speaker 2: if she went one way or the other there never

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Speaker 2: did see her.

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Speaker 1: At the edge of the yard, beyond some dried out

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Speaker 1: century plants, I noticed a trail. What does the backyard

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Speaker 1: open out to just into the neighborhood, just.

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Speaker 2: To another property, other properties, And people walk the horse

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Speaker 2: trail which is above and over and down and they

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Speaker 2: go to a cul de sac on the other side.

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Speaker 1: Oh, what's that cul desac?

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Speaker 2: Let's see, it's Malibu Meadows Road, is what it's called.

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Speaker 2: And that's over there. It's wide open too, just like

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Speaker 2: most of these properties.

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Speaker 1: Uh huh. So there's a horse trail that leads from

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Speaker 1: there to here.

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Speaker 2: Yes, there's a horse trail. It comes up over and

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Speaker 2: it goes around and down into the street right above

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Speaker 2: the side of those trees.

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Speaker 1: Riders can come along the trail, cross Cold Canyon Road

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Speaker 1: and connect to the Backbone Trail, a sixty seven mile

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Speaker 1: long trail that runs all through the Santa Mona the mountains.

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Speaker 1: The Backbone passes by the mouth of Dark Canyon, the

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Speaker 1: canyon where my Trees's remains were ultimately found. And she

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Speaker 1: was definitely alone when you spotted her.

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Speaker 2: Oh, yes, she was all by herself and non threatening.

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Speaker 2: That's all I remember. That's it. Yeah, I wish I

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Speaker 2: had more information than I was so upset that I

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Speaker 2: just let her go like that, knowing what happened later

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Speaker 2: that you know, she unfortunately made her demise. I always

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Speaker 2: shook my head thinking, I wonder, I just don't know

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Speaker 2: what happened, and I always wish I had done more,

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Speaker 2: but at the time there was nothing more to do.

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Speaker 1: I asked her about that other story, the one the

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Speaker 1: Montanito lifer told in the video where he claimed My

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Speaker 1: Trees had been at the front door of the Smith's

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Speaker 1: house earlier in the morning, shouting. Karen said she didn't

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Speaker 1: know anything about that. She did say I could check

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Speaker 1: out the trail well. I followed it to where it started,

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Speaker 1: in a grove of mature oak trees in the heart

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Speaker 1: of Montanito. I looked around. There was no sign to

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Speaker 1: mark the trail. In broad daylight, it was barely visible,

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Speaker 1: just a faint impression in the dust, mostly obscured by

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Speaker 1: fallen leaves. How had my Trees made her way here

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Speaker 1: all the way from Lost Hill Station in the dark?

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Speaker 1: And where had she gone? I'm Dana Goodyear and this

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Speaker 1: is Lost Hills episode four, Hopscotch. My Terse went missing

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Speaker 1: early on a Thursday morning. On Friday night, her mother

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Speaker 1: called my Terce's mentor, doctor Ronda Hampton.

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Speaker 3: I was driving home from work. I remember it, you know,

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Speaker 3: like it was yesterday, and her mom called and said,

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Speaker 3: you know, has my Riese reached out to you? I

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Speaker 3: haven't seen her, So on my drive home, I'm telling

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Speaker 3: her no, you know, we were going to have lunch

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Speaker 3: on Monday, but I haven't talked to her since then.

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Speaker 3: And then mom proceeded to tell me how she had

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Speaker 3: been at the restaurant and acting, you know, strangely, and

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Speaker 3: that she had been arrested and released.

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Speaker 1: My Terce had been released approximately forty three hours earlier,

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Speaker 1: and no one had heard from her, and besides the

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Speaker 1: sighting at the Smiths, there'd been no other reports of

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Speaker 1: anyone seeing her. Her girlfriend, Desiree Black finds this odd.

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Speaker 4: I think that it would be just kind of missing

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Speaker 4: the point if we didn't acknowledge the fact that she

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Speaker 4: was a young black, single female in Malibu, calabassies somewhere

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Speaker 4: where wasn't exactly made for us, somewhere where she should

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Speaker 4: have stuck out. Somebody should have seen her. And I

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Speaker 4: think that is one of the pieces to the story

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Speaker 4: that's kind of still astonishing to me that nobody saw her,

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Speaker 4: because those just being facts, the fact that she was young, attractive,

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Speaker 4: black female alone alone. If someone saw her, they would

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Speaker 4: have remembered that. In Calabasas, she would have been hard

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Speaker 4: to miss, and that makes people a target.

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Speaker 1: Latisa had filed a missing persons report at Lost Hills

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Speaker 1: station the day she disappeared. Deputies took it as a

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Speaker 1: courtesy because my Terce being a resident of the city

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Speaker 1: of la it was really an LAPD case. When the

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Speaker 1: deputy at Lost Hills told Latis that someone matching my

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Speaker 1: Teresa's description had been seen in Montanito early Thursday morning,

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Speaker 1: Latisa had driven out there, but no one else seemed

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Speaker 1: to be looking for her daughter, and she felt that

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Speaker 1: crucial time was being lost.

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Speaker 3: And Mom called me because she said she did not

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Speaker 3: know what to do because they were not searching for

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Speaker 3: her and there was no plan search, and she asked

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Speaker 3: if I would contact the detective on the case to

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Speaker 3: plead for help.

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Speaker 1: The detective was Kristen Merrill with the LAPD Missing Persons Unit.

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Speaker 1: Doctor Hampton says detective Merrill told her LAPD Missing Persons

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Speaker 1: didn't have funds to mount a search. There would need

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Speaker 1: to be a compelling reason to search for my trees.

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Speaker 1: If you go to the LAPD Missing Person's website, this

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Speaker 1: is all spelled out quote. Since being a missing person

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Speaker 1: is not a crime, police are given a very limited

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Speaker 1: role while conducting these types of investigations. As a general rule,

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Speaker 1: all people have a right to be left alone and

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Speaker 1: police intrusion into their lives must be minimal. It goes

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Speaker 1: on to say that where foul play is suspected or

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Speaker 1: the person is otherwise endangered, the police will investigate.

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Speaker 3: So when it started looking like they weren't going to search,

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Speaker 3: you know, of course, my anxiety is rising, and you

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Speaker 3: just say whatever it is you can say to get

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Speaker 3: the help that you need.

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Speaker 1: She shared some background on my Teres's mental health and

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Speaker 1: the details about her behavior at Jeffrey's.

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Speaker 3: So then I just start quoting the law. If she

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Speaker 3: was at the restaurant, saying she was from Mars, if

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Speaker 3: she was saying she was there to avenge the death

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Speaker 3: of Michael Jackson. You know, the people, the patrons in

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Speaker 3: the restaurant were saying she was acting strange. I was like, well,

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Speaker 3: why wasn't she fifty one to fifty. So after about

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Speaker 3: an hour and a half of talking to the detective,

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Speaker 3: they did agree to do a search. So they agreed

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Speaker 3: to do the search on Saturday, and at that they

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Speaker 3: weren't going to start that search until ten o'clock in

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Speaker 3: the morning, So that's a lot of time that went by.

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Speaker 3: I couldn't sleep, obviously, and I had never been to Malibu,

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Speaker 3: and so somewhere around five o'clock in the morning, I

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Speaker 3: called my girlfriend and asked her, could have you ever

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Speaker 3: been to Malibu? And can you come out with me?

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Speaker 3: She's another therapist who worked in my office, so we

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Speaker 3: both had clients that day, we shut the practice down

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Speaker 3: and drove out to Malibu.

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Speaker 1: Over the next several days, doctor Hampton, along with members

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Speaker 1: of my Teresa's family and other supporters, kept returning to malibill.

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Speaker 1: They didn't really know where to go.

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Speaker 3: We were frantic passing out flyers, you know, at Pepperdine

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Speaker 3: on Pacific clas Highway in calabasas anywhere we can think of.

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Speaker 3: We stayed on Pacific Close Highway passing out flyers until

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Speaker 3: about midnight.

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Speaker 1: She remembers taking flyers to the Ralph Supermarket on PCH.

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Speaker 3: And then on the side of that Ralph so there's

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Speaker 3: like a homeless encampment kind of like on this hill.

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Speaker 3: So we walked up there just to search, you know,

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Speaker 3: maybe she ended up there or something, right, And so

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Speaker 3: as we're searching, we saw this group of homeless men

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Speaker 3: and we kind of just stopped and hey, we're looking

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Speaker 3: for this person. And then one of the men he

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Speaker 3: sits up and says, look, the police don't care about her.

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Speaker 3: The law enforcement doesn't care about her because she's un here,

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Speaker 3: and you guys just need to get over it. And

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Speaker 3: that was my first kind of in my face, like,

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Speaker 3: oh wait, this is a race component to this.

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Speaker 1: Before long, doctor Hampton had reason to believe that the

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Speaker 1: Sheriff's department didn't care except maybe about itself.

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Speaker 3: And then we came home, you know, retired, turn on

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Speaker 3: the TV and Steve Whitmore, who was the spokesperson from

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Speaker 3: LASD is putting this twist on the story that was unbelievable,

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Speaker 3: where he was kind of indicating that my Ruse was

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Speaker 3: perfectly fine. Nothing was wrong with her. She's an adult.

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Speaker 3: She wanted to leave, so we had to let her leave.

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Speaker 1: Doctor Hampton was shocked. This was not only untrue, she thought,

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Speaker 1: but entirely beside the point. They needed to find my

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Speaker 1: Trese now.

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Speaker 3: Well.

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Speaker 1: My Teresa's friends and family were passing out flyers on

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Speaker 1: Pacific Coast Highway. Law enforcement was searching too.

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Speaker 5: I'm retired Sergeant tow we Right, and at the time

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Speaker 5: of this investigation, I was in charge of Malibu Search

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Speaker 5: and Rescue at Malibu Lost Hills Sheriff Station.

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Speaker 1: I met Sergeant Wright back when I was working on

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Speaker 1: the first season of Lost Hills. He's one of the

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Speaker 1: people who helped solve the murder of Tristan Boudett, the

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Speaker 1: scientist who was shot and killed in twenty eighteen while

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Speaker 1: camping with his young daughters in Malibu Creek State Park.

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Speaker 1: Sergeant Wright tracked the killer, a drifter named Anthony Rauda,

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Speaker 1: to his encampment in the hills behind Lost Hills Station,

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Speaker 1: where he was ultimately arrested with the murder weapon. In

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Speaker 1: the spring of twenty twenty three, Rauda was found guilty

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Speaker 1: and sentenced to one hundred and nineteen years to life

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Speaker 1: in prison. He's appealing his conviction. Over his career, Sergeant

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Speaker 1: Wright searched for hundreds of lost and missing people in

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Speaker 1: the Santa Monica Mountains. The LAPD didn't know the area,

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Speaker 1: but Malibu sarch and Rescue did. On September nineteenth, two

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Speaker 1: thousand and nine, two days after my Trees disappeared, Sergeant

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Speaker 1: Wright conducted a search. He started at the Smith's house

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Speaker 1: where my Trees was last seen, rather than at Lost

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Speaker 1: Hill Station where she'd been released.

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Speaker 5: Basically what I call a hopscotch. We basically start a

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Speaker 5: search for missing persons at the last known location where

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Speaker 5: somebody's seen. To start it before that just consumes unnecessary time.

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Speaker 1: That day, Sergeant Wright was working with a certified man

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Speaker 1: tracker who found an important clue.

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Speaker 5: He's the one that found footprints going They were basically

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Speaker 5: in the side yard I would call that the southwest

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Speaker 5: side of the house.

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Speaker 1: The footprints were clearly directional. They found them entering the

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Speaker 1: Smith's property from the back by way of the trail

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Speaker 1: and exiting at the front, and they were identif fiable.

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Speaker 1: They had the waffle pattern unique to vans. They'd soon

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Speaker 1: learn my trese was wearing vans when she left Lost

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Speaker 1: Hill Station, and her shoe size matched the prints found

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Speaker 1: at the smith's. It wasn't much, but the tracks told

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Speaker 1: a story, or a fragment of one.

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Speaker 5: Now, when you're looking at footprints, an expert can tell

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Speaker 5: whether somebody's walking or running. It's usually pretty easy to

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Speaker 5: tell a running individual because the print goes down into

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Speaker 5: the ground different.

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Speaker 1: The tracker measured each footfall at first entering the backyard,

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Speaker 1: my trees had been walking. There was a consistent fourteen

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Speaker 1: inch gap between the toe of one print and the

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Speaker 1: heel of the next, but the prints leading from the

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Speaker 1: backyard to the front should pronounced toe digs, and the

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Speaker 1: stride was much longer twenty six inches between footfalls.

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Speaker 5: They indicated running motion to the front of the house

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Speaker 5: to the driveway area, so we assumed she was seen

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Speaker 5: in the backyard and that she ran alongside the house

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Speaker 5: out to the front, out of the driveway on to

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Speaker 5: Cole Canyon.

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Speaker 1: Sergeant Wright and the tracker found a few more footprints

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Speaker 1: in the dirt at the front of the house, but

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00:16:29,436 --> 00:16:33,196
Speaker 1: they couldn't tell which way my trees had gone. The

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Speaker 1: footprints stopped, but a team of dogs that was also

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Speaker 1: working that day picked up my trees as sent and

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Speaker 1: led their handlers to the neighboring house. That house, set

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Speaker 1: back from the road and surrounded by trees, belongs to

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Speaker 1: a family called the After Goods. Sergeant Wright obtained permission

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Speaker 1: to search it.

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Speaker 5: I made sure that we looked in the type of

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Speaker 5: places where somebody could be hiding or secreted, such as closets,

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Speaker 5: rooms under the stairs, things like that.

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Speaker 1: I'm wondering if anyone in either house was ever considered

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Speaker 1: a suspect in my Teresa's disappearance.

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Speaker 5: I wouldn't use the term suspect at that point. We

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Speaker 5: were just looking at a missing person. At the time,

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Speaker 5: we were thinking, well, maybe Matries was wondering from house

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Speaker 5: to house.

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Speaker 1: But at the After Goods, my Teresa's scent went cold.

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Speaker 5: Now I don't recall if it petered out at that

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Speaker 5: house's door or if it went a little further, but

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Speaker 5: I'm pretty sure it petered out before we got to

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Speaker 5: what I would call the bridge over Dark Canyon Creek

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Speaker 5: on Co Canyon. I'm sure it didn't go past that.

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Speaker 5: You know, I've heard rumors of people saying things about

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Speaker 5: the scent all over the place. I am not aware

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Speaker 5: of any other scent that was worked or located during

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Speaker 5: the search.

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Speaker 1: He remembers checking the sand on the banks of Dark

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Speaker 1: Creek for signs that my rise had followed the creek

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Speaker 1: up into Dark Canyon.

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Speaker 5: And I got out of the vehicle and I looked

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Speaker 5: in that area. It was an area where the creek

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Speaker 5: flattened out, and it was there was quite a bit

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Speaker 5: of sand there, and I looked for footprints at that time,

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Speaker 5: and I did not see any footprints none whatsoever. So

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Speaker 5: I didn't have any reason to believe that she had

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Speaker 5: walked up there, at least from that direction, from that

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Speaker 5: entryway into Dark Canyan.

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Speaker 1: At the time of the first search, my Teres had

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00:18:41,956 --> 00:18:45,316
Speaker 1: only been missing for two days. Law enforcement was looking

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Speaker 1: for a woman who might be lost or disoriented. They

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Speaker 1: were looking for a missing person. They weren't looking for

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Speaker 1: a victim. They weren't thinking about suspects. But three days later,

301
00:18:57,476 --> 00:19:01,676
Speaker 1: on September twenty, second LAPD Missing Persons handed the case

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Speaker 1: over to a pair of LAPD Robbery homicide detectives, Chuck

303
00:19:06,436 --> 00:19:11,076
Speaker 1: Knowles and Steve Agucci, Sheriff's Department, which was assisting the

304
00:19:11,196 --> 00:19:16,236
Speaker 1: laped investigation also assigned a full time team of homicide detectives.

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Speaker 1: There were a lot of tips to investigate My Trees.

306
00:19:20,916 --> 00:19:25,636
Speaker 1: While being nowhere, was suddenly seemingly everywhere. She was at

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Speaker 1: the Ralphs in Malibu in a silver sports car. She

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00:19:28,996 --> 00:19:33,076
Speaker 1: was in carmel Or, Santa Monica, Topanga, a Kinko's in

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Speaker 1: Culver City on a train, headed for the airport in

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Speaker 1: pink slippers, talking to herself. These were phantoms. None of

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Speaker 1: them turned out to be My trees. Back in Montanito, though,

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00:19:45,876 --> 00:19:49,356
Speaker 1: neighbors were starting to get scared. They didn't think My

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Speaker 1: Trees had gone far. They'd started to believe that My

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Speaker 1: Trees was in and around Montanito well past the morning

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Speaker 1: of September seventeenth, hiding or being hidden, possibly for days

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00:20:03,556 --> 00:20:20,716
Speaker 1: before she died. There's not much to Montanito, just a

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Speaker 1: few hundred homes clustered in the foothills of the Santa

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Speaker 1: Monica Mountains under a canopy of oaks. People there claim

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Speaker 1: it was the winter camp of the Schumash Indians and

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Speaker 1: that it has mystical protection. Fires may rage all around,

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00:20:35,916 --> 00:20:41,876
Speaker 1: they say, but Montanito never burns. There are no sidewalks

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Speaker 1: or street lamps. Intentionally, it's an official dark sky community,

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Speaker 1: a haven for nocturnal animals, a place where you can

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Speaker 1: see the stars. You get morning frost and Montanito in

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Speaker 1: the afternoon. The peaks block out the sun. The stark

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Speaker 1: nature is all there in the place names Cold Canyon,

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Speaker 1: Dark Creek, Dark Cainion. The residents are private and circumspect,

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Speaker 1: and they don't love talking to law enforcement. It's always

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00:21:18,956 --> 00:21:23,916
Speaker 1: been a place for alternative lifestyles, swingers, potheads, cowgirls and

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Speaker 1: pornographers alongside the doctors and lawyers and shobaz folks and

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Speaker 1: people who just want to raise their kids where they

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Speaker 1: can play barefoot in a creek. My Teresa's vanishing threatened

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00:21:35,156 --> 00:21:39,356
Speaker 1: an essential myth about Montanito, a story about its safety,

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00:21:39,796 --> 00:21:43,916
Speaker 1: its special bubble of protection. Now it seemed like a

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00:21:43,956 --> 00:21:48,436
Speaker 1: place where bad things could happen. Or maybe bad things

336
00:21:48,476 --> 00:21:55,196
Speaker 1: had always happened there, and now people were noticing. In

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00:21:55,236 --> 00:21:58,316
Speaker 1: the days after my Teresa's disappearance, there were a number

338
00:21:58,316 --> 00:22:02,276
Speaker 1: of disturbances reported in the neighborhood. Many of them involved

339
00:22:02,316 --> 00:22:07,956
Speaker 1: a woman seemingly in distress. One neighbor reported hearing a

340
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Speaker 1: woman babbling in an unfinished house across from the Smiths,

341
00:22:12,556 --> 00:22:18,036
Speaker 1: in an area known as the Triangle. There were multiple

342
00:22:18,076 --> 00:22:21,036
Speaker 1: reports of a woman's screaming near Dark Creek, where it

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00:22:21,076 --> 00:22:25,876
Speaker 1: comes down from Dark Canyon into the neighborhood. According to

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Speaker 1: a documentary about the case made by local filmmaker Chip Croft,

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00:22:30,196 --> 00:22:34,236
Speaker 1: residents heard a woman's scream two times around eleven PM,

346
00:22:34,516 --> 00:22:38,476
Speaker 1: just a few days after my Trese disappeared. The second scream,

347
00:22:38,796 --> 00:22:43,276
Speaker 1: one of the witnesses said, was cut short. Some speculated

348
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Speaker 1: maybe the screamer's throat had been slit. Recently, Haley and

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Speaker 1: I met up with a woman named Emma Schultz who

350
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Speaker 1: lived in Montanito back in two thousand and nine. She

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00:22:56,076 --> 00:22:58,956
Speaker 1: remembers seeing police cars at the Smith's house on the

352
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Speaker 1: morning that my Terse went missing. She'd been driving her

353
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Speaker 1: kids to school. It was the deputies responding to Bill

354
00:23:05,556 --> 00:23:09,276
Speaker 1: Smith's call about a prowler, the last official sighting of

355
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Speaker 1: my Trees.

356
00:23:10,636 --> 00:23:12,556
Speaker 6: I knew when she was last seen, so I knew

357
00:23:12,556 --> 00:23:13,156
Speaker 6: where she was.

358
00:23:13,916 --> 00:23:17,436
Speaker 1: She remembered seeing an unfamiliar white car parked near the

359
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Speaker 1: Smith's house on Cold Canyon Road right around the time

360
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Speaker 1: of the disappearance. She thought it could be significant.

361
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Speaker 6: Maybe somebody picked her up, maybe she called somebody. Maybe

362
00:23:27,196 --> 00:23:29,436
Speaker 6: she did get to a phone and called somebody, and

363
00:23:29,676 --> 00:23:31,356
Speaker 6: somehow they ended up here and lost.

364
00:23:31,436 --> 00:23:31,876
Speaker 1: I don't know.

365
00:23:31,956 --> 00:23:34,356
Speaker 6: I was just thinking there could have been any story.

366
00:23:34,396 --> 00:23:36,436
Speaker 6: You know, in your head, you make up all these stories.

367
00:23:36,916 --> 00:23:39,396
Speaker 1: She called the phone number on a bulletin she'd seen

368
00:23:39,436 --> 00:23:42,356
Speaker 1: about my trees and talked to doctor Ronda Hampton.

369
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Speaker 6: I called, and I said, I know you were missing

370
00:23:47,396 --> 00:23:49,996
Speaker 6: my trees, and I don't know what the police have

371
00:23:50,076 --> 00:23:52,556
Speaker 6: told you, but I and this may mean nothing or

372
00:23:52,636 --> 00:23:54,716
Speaker 6: may mean something, but there was a white car that's

373
00:23:54,756 --> 00:23:58,836
Speaker 6: parked where my treece was last seen. And they said,

374
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Speaker 6: well where is that? And I said, well, what do

375
00:24:01,476 --> 00:24:04,556
Speaker 6: you mean? It was where the police interviewed the couple

376
00:24:04,596 --> 00:24:07,356
Speaker 6: that last saw her. And she said, I don't know

377
00:24:07,396 --> 00:24:08,036
Speaker 6: where that is.

378
00:24:09,316 --> 00:24:12,636
Speaker 1: Shocked, she figured everyone in my Teresa's inner circle would

379
00:24:12,636 --> 00:24:15,316
Speaker 1: have had the address of the last place she'd been seen.

380
00:24:16,276 --> 00:24:18,596
Speaker 6: And so I told Rohnda to come out. I'll walk

381
00:24:18,636 --> 00:24:21,156
Speaker 6: you to where she was last seen. You can understand

382
00:24:21,196 --> 00:24:24,476
Speaker 6: where you know that their daughter was last scene alive.

383
00:24:24,716 --> 00:24:26,756
Speaker 6: And then I told them, you know, feel free also

384
00:24:26,836 --> 00:24:30,476
Speaker 6: to walk around and put flyers out and shared with them,

385
00:24:30,596 --> 00:24:33,036
Speaker 6: you know what the community was about. I think they

386
00:24:33,076 --> 00:24:36,316
Speaker 6: were surprised how far it was and how woulded it was.

387
00:24:37,116 --> 00:24:40,316
Speaker 6: I think that was surprising to them, and how dark

388
00:24:40,356 --> 00:24:40,876
Speaker 6: it would have been.

389
00:24:45,036 --> 00:24:48,596
Speaker 1: Emma agreed to drive us around Montonito too. We left

390
00:24:48,636 --> 00:24:51,116
Speaker 1: the parking lot of the Saddle Peak Lodge, the only

391
00:24:51,156 --> 00:24:54,476
Speaker 1: public building in the community, and followed Cold Canyon Road

392
00:24:54,596 --> 00:24:57,436
Speaker 1: into a network of narrow streets.

393
00:24:58,276 --> 00:25:00,636
Speaker 6: You know, your brain kind of goes crazy when you

394
00:25:00,716 --> 00:25:03,396
Speaker 6: think someone just went missing right around the corner and

395
00:25:03,436 --> 00:25:06,476
Speaker 6: she was last seen like right there and never seen again.

396
00:25:07,516 --> 00:25:10,916
Speaker 6: And again, this is a small, very kind of closed,

397
00:25:10,916 --> 00:25:13,836
Speaker 6: tight community, and you don't you don't kind of drive

398
00:25:13,876 --> 00:25:15,996
Speaker 6: in here if you don't know somebody. You don't wander

399
00:25:16,036 --> 00:25:16,756
Speaker 6: your way in here.

400
00:25:20,516 --> 00:25:21,916
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a real tight community.

401
00:25:21,956 --> 00:25:24,396
Speaker 6: You can see, and it has a little kind of.

402
00:25:26,876 --> 00:25:32,116
Speaker 1: You know, little ling ding ming ming ming ming Ming.

403
00:25:33,876 --> 00:25:34,756
Speaker 5: Was that deliverance.

404
00:25:37,636 --> 00:25:43,036
Speaker 6: So here's the little creek in here. But you can

405
00:25:43,076 --> 00:25:45,636
Speaker 6: see it's very kind of You don't drive in here

406
00:25:45,716 --> 00:25:48,476
Speaker 6: unless you need to be in here, and everyone kind

407
00:25:48,476 --> 00:25:50,036
Speaker 6: of looks at you when you drive by your car.

408
00:25:50,116 --> 00:25:52,676
Speaker 6: Off you haven't been living here.

409
00:25:53,636 --> 00:25:53,836
Speaker 2: You know.

410
00:25:53,956 --> 00:25:55,756
Speaker 6: I think there's a lot of people keeping a lot

411
00:25:55,756 --> 00:25:59,196
Speaker 6: of information instead of just sharing it and finding someone.

412
00:25:59,876 --> 00:26:02,836
Speaker 1: She turned up a street that dead ended into the woods.

413
00:26:04,636 --> 00:26:06,956
Speaker 1: We got out of the car and stooded a trailhead.

414
00:26:07,916 --> 00:26:10,516
Speaker 1: If you followed that trail, you'd hit the Backbone Trail.

415
00:26:11,836 --> 00:26:14,276
Speaker 1: A lot of the properties in this part of Montanito

416
00:26:14,556 --> 00:26:19,236
Speaker 1: basically border the wilderness. This was another place where there

417
00:26:19,276 --> 00:26:23,796
Speaker 1: was a possible, though unsubstantiated sighting of my trees. A

418
00:26:23,876 --> 00:26:27,876
Speaker 1: housekeeper had reported seeing a black woman near the Backbone Trail.

419
00:26:28,916 --> 00:26:31,876
Speaker 6: And as you can see here, you're surrounded by mountains,

420
00:26:32,396 --> 00:26:35,636
Speaker 6: but then there's this low area here and it's a

421
00:26:35,716 --> 00:26:41,116
Speaker 6: lot of hiking trails. It's a lot of people have

422
00:26:41,276 --> 00:26:42,636
Speaker 6: horses in this community.

423
00:26:43,436 --> 00:26:46,236
Speaker 1: The riders were very involved with the effort to find

424
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Speaker 1: my trees.

425
00:26:46,916 --> 00:26:50,716
Speaker 6: She said, I know the horse riders in the community

426
00:26:50,756 --> 00:26:52,516
Speaker 6: went out all the time looking for her.

427
00:26:52,916 --> 00:26:53,636
Speaker 7: That I do know.

428
00:26:55,036 --> 00:26:57,156
Speaker 6: That was very organized, and we did a lot of

429
00:26:57,196 --> 00:27:00,596
Speaker 6: trail walks and everyone was always there's a community board,

430
00:27:00,636 --> 00:27:04,196
Speaker 6: everyone talking about, you know, going out and looking for her.

431
00:27:04,676 --> 00:27:06,796
Speaker 6: I think the neighborhood was very supportive of trying to

432
00:27:06,796 --> 00:27:08,716
Speaker 6: help find my trees. I mean, the community was very

433
00:27:08,916 --> 00:27:11,476
Speaker 6: you else, they wanted her found it's scary, you know.

434
00:27:11,636 --> 00:27:14,196
Speaker 6: I think that's something you always I'll think about.

435
00:27:17,596 --> 00:27:20,596
Speaker 1: Doctor Ronda Hampton began to make herself a presence in

436
00:27:20,596 --> 00:27:21,876
Speaker 1: the neighborhood.

437
00:27:21,956 --> 00:27:23,596
Speaker 3: And so it's like, we're going to do this big

438
00:27:23,636 --> 00:27:25,716
Speaker 3: search in Montanito. And at the time, it was just

439
00:27:25,716 --> 00:27:27,756
Speaker 3: a bunch of black folks, you know, kind of going

440
00:27:27,836 --> 00:27:28,196
Speaker 3: in there.

441
00:27:28,716 --> 00:27:32,196
Speaker 1: She says, they couldn't just show up and search. They

442
00:27:32,196 --> 00:27:33,956
Speaker 1: needed Emma to help fanesse it.

443
00:27:34,396 --> 00:27:37,396
Speaker 3: And I've always been thankful that she did that because

444
00:27:37,876 --> 00:27:41,396
Speaker 3: I think the first because there was mention of her race.

445
00:27:41,516 --> 00:27:43,876
Speaker 3: You know that you know, black people don't live out there.

446
00:27:44,276 --> 00:27:47,236
Speaker 3: Black people don't come out here, and no one straight

447
00:27:47,236 --> 00:27:49,156
Speaker 3: out said don't come here, but you were very clear

448
00:27:49,196 --> 00:27:50,636
Speaker 3: that it was not a place that black people were

449
00:27:50,676 --> 00:27:51,236
Speaker 3: supposed to be.

450
00:27:52,196 --> 00:27:54,796
Speaker 1: She found Montanito to be a peculiar place.

451
00:27:55,596 --> 00:27:58,716
Speaker 3: Any information that we would get from people was very

452
00:28:00,636 --> 00:28:04,196
Speaker 3: like everybody was afraid to talk, so lots of information

453
00:28:04,316 --> 00:28:05,156
Speaker 3: was just kind of given.

454
00:28:05,356 --> 00:28:09,396
Speaker 7: Like on the sly, did you have the feeling when

455
00:28:09,396 --> 00:28:13,076
Speaker 7: you were dealing with people in Montanito like they wanted

456
00:28:13,076 --> 00:28:15,396
Speaker 7: to tell you something but they couldn't tell you something.

457
00:28:15,996 --> 00:28:21,236
Speaker 3: Yes, definitely, it was a general feeling right and even

458
00:28:21,316 --> 00:28:23,076
Speaker 3: rather or not it was about my trees or not,

459
00:28:23,356 --> 00:28:27,356
Speaker 3: like something was going on in that area and people

460
00:28:27,476 --> 00:28:30,876
Speaker 3: just didn't want to talk. Part of it is, and

461
00:28:30,956 --> 00:28:33,476
Speaker 3: I heard from one person they're just afraid of law enforcement.

462
00:28:34,356 --> 00:28:35,996
Speaker 3: So and I don't know if that's still true, but

463
00:28:35,996 --> 00:28:37,756
Speaker 3: back then they were afraid of law enforcement because what

464
00:28:37,796 --> 00:28:39,076
Speaker 3: it was explained to me is like we're in the

465
00:28:39,116 --> 00:28:42,116
Speaker 3: middle of nowhere. They are the only source of protection

466
00:28:42,236 --> 00:28:45,316
Speaker 3: that we have. This story by this time had broke

467
00:28:45,396 --> 00:28:47,596
Speaker 3: on the news and law enforcement did not look good.

468
00:28:48,436 --> 00:28:50,596
Speaker 3: They're not really in a position to talk because these

469
00:28:50,596 --> 00:28:52,996
Speaker 3: are the people that they have to rely on to

470
00:28:53,036 --> 00:28:55,956
Speaker 3: protect them and because you know, it's such in the middle,

471
00:28:55,956 --> 00:28:56,836
Speaker 3: it is so secluded.

472
00:28:57,556 --> 00:29:00,996
Speaker 1: She passed out flyers showing my Teresa's booking photo and

473
00:29:01,076 --> 00:29:04,316
Speaker 1: a close up of the tattoo of Chinese characters at

474
00:29:04,316 --> 00:29:08,316
Speaker 1: the nape of her neck. Hikers, trail bikers, horseback riders

475
00:29:08,316 --> 00:29:11,156
Speaker 1: and helpers want to The flyer said, we will be

476
00:29:11,196 --> 00:29:14,196
Speaker 1: searching the trails, hills and back roads in the Montanito

477
00:29:14,276 --> 00:29:15,916
Speaker 1: region where she was last seen.

478
00:29:17,556 --> 00:29:20,556
Speaker 3: I was never really guided and I still am not

479
00:29:20,636 --> 00:29:24,796
Speaker 3: guided by my intuition on things, so even if I

480
00:29:24,836 --> 00:29:28,276
Speaker 3: say this is what I think, I'm always considering every possibility.

481
00:29:29,196 --> 00:29:31,876
Speaker 3: So I didn't mind doing searches wherever. We need to

482
00:29:31,916 --> 00:29:33,516
Speaker 3: do those searches. So if there was a tip, then

483
00:29:33,556 --> 00:29:36,156
Speaker 3: let's organize a party to go search. To me, if

484
00:29:36,156 --> 00:29:37,996
Speaker 3: there was like a half a percent that she's still alive,

485
00:29:37,996 --> 00:29:38,996
Speaker 3: I'm gonna search everywhere.

486
00:29:41,396 --> 00:29:47,596
Speaker 1: Her brain became a repository for names, addresses, clues, and theories. Eventually,

487
00:29:47,796 --> 00:29:50,356
Speaker 1: she uploaded a lot of that information to the Internet,

488
00:29:50,836 --> 00:29:53,956
Speaker 1: a public data dump that anyone interested in the case

489
00:29:53,996 --> 00:29:58,676
Speaker 1: can use. But while my treuse was missing, doctor Hampton

490
00:29:58,756 --> 00:30:02,156
Speaker 1: became invested in a rumor. She heard about my trees

491
00:30:02,236 --> 00:30:05,596
Speaker 1: being held hostage somewhere in the Santa Monica Mountains.

492
00:30:07,516 --> 00:30:10,396
Speaker 3: So guy says, you know, there's some white supremacists. That's

493
00:30:10,396 --> 00:30:13,636
Speaker 3: the word that they use. There's some white supremacist and

494
00:30:14,596 --> 00:30:17,836
Speaker 3: word on the suite is that they're holding her somewhere

495
00:30:18,276 --> 00:30:19,716
Speaker 3: in the canyon area.

496
00:30:20,156 --> 00:30:23,956
Speaker 1: According to law enforcement documents, Malibu Search and Rescue conducted

497
00:30:24,036 --> 00:30:27,516
Speaker 1: numerous searches quote in response to a claim that Miss

498
00:30:27,636 --> 00:30:32,516
Speaker 1: Richardson was being held by white supremacists in Malibu Quo.

499
00:30:33,756 --> 00:30:36,596
Speaker 1: During that time period. Some of the volunteers working with

500
00:30:36,636 --> 00:30:41,836
Speaker 1: doctor Hampton found what appeared to be corroborating evidence. They

501
00:30:41,876 --> 00:30:45,156
Speaker 1: were searching off Payuma Road, the winding road that takes

502
00:30:45,196 --> 00:30:49,156
Speaker 1: you high up into the mountains over Montanito. They came

503
00:30:49,196 --> 00:30:53,036
Speaker 1: across a culvert. It was freshly tagged with a large

504
00:30:53,076 --> 00:30:57,196
Speaker 1: graffiti style mural. If the footprints in the smith's yard

505
00:30:57,276 --> 00:31:00,316
Speaker 1: had been just the fragment of a story, this was

506
00:31:00,356 --> 00:31:04,876
Speaker 1: a full scale narrative and it seemed like a confession

507
00:31:05,196 --> 00:31:11,556
Speaker 1: to a crime. Next time on Lost Hills.

508
00:31:12,436 --> 00:31:19,036
Speaker 3: Thirteen African American women with afros who were nude and

509
00:31:19,276 --> 00:31:27,036
Speaker 3: in very graphic, sexually provocative positions. One of the images

510
00:31:27,756 --> 00:31:31,756
Speaker 3: was of a woman who was painted blue, kneeling on

511
00:31:31,836 --> 00:31:35,156
Speaker 3: all fours on our bodox area. She had a symbol

512
00:31:36,116 --> 00:31:40,676
Speaker 3: the letters LA, and she had a marijuana joint out

513
00:31:40,676 --> 00:31:42,396
Speaker 3: of her mouth. That's what makes us think that it's

514
00:31:42,436 --> 00:31:46,156
Speaker 3: possibly that the person is trying to talk about my

515
00:31:46,196 --> 00:31:47,836
Speaker 3: trees in terms of the fact that she was in LA.

516
00:31:47,996 --> 00:31:49,876
Speaker 1: That's next in episode five.

517
00:31:50,556 --> 00:31:51,276
Speaker 4: So Close.

518
00:31:55,756 --> 00:31:58,996
Speaker 1: Lost Hills is written and hosted by Me Dana Goodyear.

519
00:31:59,476 --> 00:32:02,956
Speaker 1: It was reported by Me and Hailey Fox, our senior producer.

520
00:32:03,556 --> 00:32:07,516
Speaker 1: The show was created by Me and Benadere. Lost Hills

521
00:32:07,636 --> 00:32:16,276
Speaker 1: is a production of Western Sound and Pushkin industries. Subscribe

522
00:32:16,316 --> 00:32:19,036
Speaker 1: to Pushkin Plus and you can binge the whole season

523
00:32:19,196 --> 00:32:22,996
Speaker 1: right now, ad free. Find Pushkin Plus on the Lost

524
00:32:22,996 --> 00:32:27,196
Speaker 1: Tail show page in Apple Podcasts, or at pushkin dot fm,

525
00:32:27,436 --> 00:32:29,396
Speaker 1: slash plus