Speaker 1: Hunting for Answers is a production of the Black Effect
Speaker 1: Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Welcome to Hunting for Answers, a
Speaker 1: true crime podcast. I'm your host Hunter and in this episode,
Speaker 1: we're discussing a case out of Monroe, North Carolina, a
Speaker 1: small community shaken to its core when a sixteen year
Speaker 1: old girl vanished without warning. Her disappearance would ignite a
Speaker 1: desperate search stretch across multiple states and expose a chilling
Speaker 1: truth about the dangers lurking on the internet. We spoke
Speaker 1: with her father, who walked us through the terrifying weeks
Speaker 1: of the investigation, the emotional reunion with his daughter, and
Speaker 1: their path towards healing in the Afterpath.
Speaker 2: This is the story of Lauren Heath.
Speaker 1: October thirteenth, twenty twenty three began like any other day,
Speaker 1: but for the Heath family, it quickly turned into every
Speaker 1: parent's first nightmare.
Speaker 3: I would say, you know, like a month or two prior,
Speaker 3: you know, my wife and I had noticed, you know,
Speaker 3: changing her.
Speaker 4: She seemed to be a little bit more.
Speaker 3: Withdrawing, so to speak, not talking a lot. Because she
Speaker 3: was playing volleyball at her previous high school and she
Speaker 3: was a cheerleader but I remember seeing her in a
Speaker 3: phone call from her she leaving head coach there at
Speaker 3: a camp saying how much my daughter was so withdrawn
Speaker 3: from the team, not interacting, you know, with their teammates,
Speaker 3: not talking, want to be by herself. And they even
Speaker 3: asked her that night when she called me, like, hey,
Speaker 3: do you want me come get you if you're not
Speaker 3: comfortable being there? She's like, no, I'm gonna stick it out,
Speaker 3: because you know, as parents will always tell our kids,
Speaker 3: if you start something, finish it. But it was several
Speaker 3: conversations that my daughter would have, like when I would
Speaker 3: take her to school, she always would make the comment
Speaker 3: like she feels like she's somebody else's friend, but they're
Speaker 3: not her so to speak, like she's trying too hard
Speaker 3: and they're not reciprocated. What's needing a good solid friendship?
Speaker 3: And I say, hey, you know, don't take it personal.
Speaker 3: You know, just as parents we tell our kids, you know,
Speaker 3: it's life. It's part of growing up, especially being a teenager,
Speaker 3: especially being young females to go through a lot of changes,
Speaker 3: and you know, they pick and choose friends from week
Speaker 3: to week, could be day to day.
Speaker 1: Bring camera footage showed Lauren leaving her home in Indian Trail,
Speaker 1: North Carolina. There were no warning signs, no goodbye, just
Speaker 1: a quiet exit into the unknown. Her father, Gary Keith,
Speaker 1: recalls noticing changes in Lauren in the week's prior. Like
Speaker 1: many teens, she began struggling, but he now sees the signs.
Speaker 3: They mess But it's one thing my wife and I,
Speaker 3: you know, regret doing. It's not I mean, we heard
Speaker 3: her daughter, heard our daughter, but we didn't like fully listen.
Speaker 3: You know, when you're like your kids are crying out constantly,
Speaker 3: it's easy for us as parents to say, hey, go
Speaker 3: to school, wear that crown strongly ahead, be strong, be yourself.
Speaker 3: But when you got to live in that world five
Speaker 3: days a week, for seven and a half hours a day,
Speaker 3: it's different. And you know that's my wife and I
Speaker 3: looking back on that, we wish we would have really
Speaker 3: delved deeply more into that, you know, while she was
Speaker 3: expressing about her being withdrawn everything like that, but you know,
Speaker 3: you know, I think that was part of it. You know,
Speaker 3: the the friendships weren't a solid that she might have wanted.
Speaker 3: She would say telling us things like kids were saying
Speaker 3: certain things to her and make her feel down or depressed,
Speaker 3: and she lost her self esteem, so to speak. So
Speaker 3: I think that's what led up to her disappearance. I
Speaker 3: felt like she just wanted to just drop it all
Speaker 3: and just go away.
Speaker 1: Despite her challenges, Lauren was excited about her school's upcoming
Speaker 1: homecoming dance.
Speaker 2: She had a nail appointment scheduled and.
Speaker 1: Was looking forward to the event, hardly the actions of
Speaker 1: someone planning to heat. That's what made her disappearance all
Speaker 1: the more alarming. This wasn't like Lauren. Her behavior didn't
Speaker 1: match someone who wanted to just disappear. As hours turned
Speaker 1: into days, Hannick settled in. The seconds dragged like hours,
Speaker 1: and the longer she was gone, the worse the fear became.
Speaker 1: But the Heath family wasn't alone. The Monroe community rallied together.
Speaker 1: Candlelight viguals were held blanketed neighborhoods. Billboards appeared in North Carolina,
Speaker 1: South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and Virginia. Lauren's face became
Speaker 1: impossible to miss, But despite the overwhelming support, the silence
Speaker 1: was deafening. Lauren's parents spoke out to her in every
Speaker 1: public message, Come home, we love you. There's no obstacle
Speaker 1: too big to bring you back. Still, one thing was unmistakable.
Speaker 1: The police response in those critical early days was dismissive.
Speaker 1: Like many cases involving missing black girls, Lauren's disappearance didn't
Speaker 1: trigger the kind of urgency it deserved.
Speaker 3: Initially when she went missing on the thirteenth, of course,
Speaker 3: we made a police report and the police were so
Speaker 3: nonchalant about it. It was just like here we go again,
Speaker 3: another missing child. So you know, we'd write it down
Speaker 3: and he was kind of nonchalot about it with you know,
Speaker 3: kind of got out of my skin with my wife
Speaker 3: and I and he just kind of took it and
Speaker 3: just left and like, hey, we really need to hear something,
Speaker 3: you know about this case.
Speaker 4: Like so that was on a Friday.
Speaker 3: We my wife and I had to literally go down
Speaker 3: to the police station first thing Monday morning and helped
Speaker 3: get a detective assigned to the case. So two whole
Speaker 3: days had gone by with nothing, and I even called
Speaker 3: the dispatch and see about follow up because it was
Speaker 3: asking me about her cell phone on what selles service
Speaker 3: did we use and everything like that.
Speaker 1: Her father told us plainly, if it weren't for the community,
Speaker 1: stepping up. There's no telling where the case would stand.
Speaker 3: Re union response was awesome. You know, my neighbors in
Speaker 3: my neighborhood went out looking. My neighbor across the street.
Speaker 3: She was awesome because she said she knew this house
Speaker 3: where a lot of teenagers would go and just hang
Speaker 3: out and just drink blah blah blah.
Speaker 4: She went there.
Speaker 3: So the community response was awesome those first two days
Speaker 3: she went miss up until the time my wife and
Speaker 3: I had to go to the police station, and luckily
Speaker 3: it worked out. The chief of police I used to
Speaker 3: coach his son in football, so when he saw me,
Speaker 3: he told his detective like, hey, anything he wants, you
Speaker 3: make sure he gets it. So it pays to know
Speaker 3: people like I tell people, don't burn your bridges because
Speaker 3: you never know you might need somebody.
Speaker 4: So once I got to him, it was a lot better.
Speaker 3: The detective was very responsive to us about you know,
Speaker 3: any type of leaves or anything. We had people down
Speaker 3: the street. Lady she has a farm down the street.
Speaker 3: She even offered, like her ATV to like go out
Speaker 3: and look you know out you know, in the community
Speaker 3: or whatever. So the community response was awesome. You know,
Speaker 3: we made flyers. People were come by and your flyers
Speaker 3: and put them up for us. There's this little biker
Speaker 3: house down the street. They had cameras, but they might
Speaker 3: have thought she might have, you know, left from They
Speaker 3: let us go down. They look at their cameras, but
Speaker 3: it was overwhelming the response that we received from the community, even.
Speaker 1: With tips pouring in, time tap slipping away, no breakthroughs,
Speaker 1: no confirmed sightings, no real leads, just a growing sense
Speaker 1: that Lauren might be getting further and further away. Then,
Speaker 1: nearly two weeks later, Hope arrived in Kirkwood, Missouri. Police
Speaker 1: officers investigating a suspicious vehicle parked outside a Low's made
Speaker 1: a discovery that would bring this nightmare to a shock
Speaker 1: and turning point. Inside the car was a thirty year
Speaker 1: old convicted sex offender, and in the passenger seat sixteen
Speaker 1: year old Laurenn Heath. Authorities learned that the man had
Speaker 1: been communicating with Lauren through an anonymous messaging app. He
Speaker 1: exploited her emotional vulnerability, manipulated her with false promises, and
Speaker 1: drove all the way from Oklahoma to North Carolina to
Speaker 1: pick her up. She was carrying her birth certificate and
Speaker 1: had even memorized her mother's phone number, details that ultimately
Speaker 1: helped police confirm her identity and notify her parents.
Speaker 3: Having those conversations with your child or children about social
Speaker 3: media because like I said, it's a beast.
Speaker 4: It's like I said, it's a gift in the curse.
Speaker 3: And you know, you have these apps that have been
Speaker 3: created where it looks like one thing, but it's something
Speaker 3: else where they little children.
Speaker 4: They I know it's one app. I know, the FBI
Speaker 4: was showing us.
Speaker 3: It looks like a calculator, but behind it it's a
Speaker 3: way that these predators talk to children.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it was the particular app. I don't think
Speaker 3: they even have it anymore. It's called Whisper. That was
Speaker 3: the main culport in this case. It's almost like the
Speaker 3: dark web, so to speak. Behind these apps, because these
Speaker 3: predators have ways of getting to children, whether it be
Speaker 3: online I know, and speaking with people.
Speaker 4: I know.
Speaker 3: The police officers showed me down the street how these
Speaker 3: they would change their voice online to sound like a child,
Speaker 3: and you think you're playing with another twelve year old
Speaker 3: and it comes out it's somebody forty or fifty years old.
Speaker 4: They use this, you know, this voice altering like headset and.
Speaker 3: That's like so I would tell my kids, you know,
Speaker 3: you have to be careful. You know who you're on
Speaker 3: line with. Less you're just your close friends from school
Speaker 3: and somebody you know personally. Don't talk to him.
Speaker 1: The moment the call came in, Lauren's parents dropped to
Speaker 1: their knees. Relief overwhelmed them. They didn't even put on
Speaker 1: the proper shoes before rushing to the airport to catch
Speaker 1: the first flight to Missouri.
Speaker 2: When they were reunited with their.
Speaker 1: Daughter, it felt, mister Heath said, like holding a newborn
Speaker 1: for the second time. And though joy filled the reunion,
Speaker 1: the trauma lingered and the road to healing would.
Speaker 2: Be next.
Speaker 3: The first I would say. She came on October twenty fifth.
Speaker 3: I would say probably until maybe four or five months
Speaker 3: after that, it was still a struggle trying to get her.
Speaker 4: The focus and open up.
Speaker 3: Of course, we did immediately get her into therapy when
Speaker 3: still it now that has helped out tremendously. I will
Speaker 3: say she's come a long way since then. She's in
Speaker 3: a new high school. She's cheering, she loves it, she's
Speaker 3: making new friends. So I believe this new high school
Speaker 3: has done her leaps and bounds of getting herself a
Speaker 3: stayed back making new friends because, like I said, her
Speaker 3: previous high school, for whatever reason, just was not the
Speaker 3: place for her.
Speaker 1: Lauren came home on October twenty fifth, twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: but in the days and months that followed, her family
Speaker 1: would face a new set of challenges. Therapy became a
Speaker 1: part of the healing process. A new high school brought
Speaker 1: a fresh start, but emotionally, her father described it as
Speaker 1: life altering.
Speaker 4: Quote.
Speaker 1: It changes you as a person, he said. We used
Speaker 1: to beat ourselves up up, but we know we're good parents.
Speaker 1: One thing they are absolutely certain of Lauren was not
Speaker 1: to blame. She was coerced and groomed by a sick individual.
Speaker 1: Mister Heath said, she's the victim and she needs to
Speaker 1: know this isn't her fault. According to investigators, predators like
Speaker 1: this pray on children expressing vulnerability online. They scan for
Speaker 1: keywords emotional distress and then pose as saviors only to
Speaker 1: lead their victims into unimaginable danger.
Speaker 3: In fact, I just spoke to the federal prosecutor yesterday
Speaker 3: because with him having federal charges and also state charges,
Speaker 3: with him crossing state lines with our daughter. There's so
Speaker 3: much they have to get worked out far as the
Speaker 3: charges and get what to plea to for him. So
Speaker 3: it's kind of like in a holding past. He's what
Speaker 3: I do know, he would never see.
Speaker 4: The light of day.
Speaker 1: Thankfully, Lauren's story ends with a reunion with her family,
Speaker 1: but for far too many other families, that call never
Speaker 1: comes in, that moment of relief never arrives.
Speaker 3: Because my wife and I you know, talk about all
Speaker 3: the time like we were truly blessed to get our
Speaker 3: daughter back. But I know when I look at and
Speaker 3: I still part of black and Missing and all these
Speaker 3: missing children sites, always repost and share every kid that
Speaker 3: comes across my timeline because I know exactly how those
Speaker 3: parents feel. So I can only imagine if your child's
Speaker 3: been missing for months or years, you know what type
Speaker 3: of you know, mental state those parents are in. The
Speaker 3: best advice I can give parents with children that are
Speaker 3: missing is to stay relentless and get closure to your situation.
Speaker 3: Because I told my wife, I said, regardless of what
Speaker 3: happens with our daughter, I just want to know that
Speaker 3: I never quit to parents. Like I said, there's no
Speaker 3: handbook to this, to being a parent. You can be
Speaker 3: the best parent in the world, and if something tragedy
Speaker 3: like this does happen, you can't ever doubt yourself as
Speaker 3: a parent. If you'd have told me this would happened
Speaker 3: to my family, I was like, you're crazy. That will
Speaker 3: never happen to my daughter. But like I said, nobody's
Speaker 3: immune to this. Nobody. Biggest thing for me as a
Speaker 3: father is to be more of a listener to her
Speaker 3: rather try to tell her how to feel, you know,
Speaker 3: because she has the right to feel the way she
Speaker 3: wants to, like anybody else, regardless of them being your children.
Speaker 3: So I think that's the biggest thing for me, is
Speaker 3: to really let her be herself and her feelings and
Speaker 3: try to work it out through her lens and not mind.
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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us on another episode.
Speaker 2: Until next time.
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