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Speaker 1: Novel. Hey listener, here we are at our final episode.

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Speaker 1: I just wanted to let you know that we are

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Speaker 1: releasing our soundtrack as an EP. You can listen on

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Speaker 1: all reputable streaming platforms. You can also purchase the EP

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Speaker 1: by going to bandcamp dot com and searching for the

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Speaker 1: Girlfriend's Our Lost Sister soundtrack. All proceeds go to our

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Speaker 1: charity partner, DNA DO Project. In this final episode, we'll

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Speaker 1: be talking a lot about drug addiction. We'll also speak

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Speaker 1: about parental neglect, sex work, as well as acts of

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Speaker 1: extreme violence, including murder. But in amongst all this darkness,

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Speaker 1: you'll also hear a woman's story brought to life by

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Speaker 1: the people who loved her. If you feel impact did

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Speaker 1: by any of the themes while listening, I encourage you

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Speaker 1: to check out our charity partner, DNA DOE Project. They

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Speaker 1: work with law enforcement to identify Jane and John Does

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Speaker 1: using genetic genealogy in the hopes of reuniting the bodies

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Speaker 1: of unidentified people with their families. You can find them

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Speaker 1: at DNADO project dot org. And one more thing, you'll

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Speaker 1: probably hear more bad language from me. I mean, it's

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Speaker 1: the final episode, so why stop now? You know? So

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Speaker 1: far on the girlfriends our lost sister. The whole thing

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Speaker 1: is so horrific, it's almost like it's become this moral

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Speaker 1: obligation to find her.

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Speaker 2: In ninety eight, did missing persons really want to deal with?

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Speaker 2: Nineteen eighty nine Torso?

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Speaker 3: That watch though I don't know.

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Speaker 4: Hi, it's doctor Shapiro and I'd like to speak with

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Speaker 4: the deputy medical Examiner.

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Speaker 2: Do you mind if I send a text?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I might get something. What do you know?

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Speaker 2: Could you say perpetrator for me?

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Speaker 3: Who is she?

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Speaker 6: Let's bring closure to another family. Let's open this door?

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Speaker 2: Hello? Hi?

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Speaker 3: Is this Anne?

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Speaker 7: It is.

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Speaker 1: When Anna reached out to Heidi Balch's family, they were

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Speaker 1: pretty shocked to hear from her, and trust me, I

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Speaker 1: can certainly relate to that, But despite their surprise, they

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Speaker 1: agreed to talk. So Anna explains the long complicated story

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Speaker 1: how a Torso washed up on Staten Island and was

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Speaker 1: buried in Gilkatz's grave for nearly a decade, and how

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Speaker 1: DNA testing avally proved that it wasn't Gael, and how

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Speaker 1: that Torso was then buried on Hart Island until twenty

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Speaker 1: and thirteen, when it was exhumed once again by the

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Speaker 1: Office of the chief medical Examiners. We ask Kiti's family

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Speaker 1: for records anything relating to the police or medical examiners

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Speaker 1: that they would be willing to share with us to

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Speaker 1: help us solve this mystery once and for all. They

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Speaker 1: forward us an email which they were sent by the

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Speaker 1: police back in twenty thirteen and included in there two

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Speaker 1: paragraphs down is a medical examiner case number R eight

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Speaker 1: nine zero five six three, which is a number some

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Speaker 1: discerning listeners may recognize because it's the same number that

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Speaker 1: we've had in our files for a year and a half.

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Speaker 1: It's the number that all the way back in nineteen

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Speaker 1: eighty nine was assigned to our Jane Do's Torso, the

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Speaker 1: one that was misidentified as Gail Cats. I can't believe

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Speaker 1: I'm saying this, Girlfriends, but we finally have the proof.

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Speaker 1: We found our lost sister, and her name is Heidi Balch.

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Speaker 1: I'm Carol Fisher and from the teams at Novel and

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Speaker 1: iHeart Podcast, this is the girlfriends our Lost Sister, Episode five.

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Speaker 7: Her Legacy. Yes, okay, I've got a confession to make.

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Speaker 1: I know. I always say I'm a Vegas girl because

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Speaker 1: that's my hometown and I love a little glitz and glamour.

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Speaker 1: But about seven years ago, I fell in love with

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Speaker 1: the man from New Orleans and I found myself in

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Speaker 1: a long distance relationship. Listener, don't fear this. One's a

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Speaker 1: really nice guy. But the deal was I would spend

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Speaker 1: more time out of Las Vegas if I could have

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Speaker 1: a lot of animals. So we purchased a home right

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Speaker 1: outside the city, and I'm happy to report that we

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Speaker 1: have a shitload of chickens, two geese, a lot of ducks,

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Speaker 1: five mini goats, one pet pig, two horses, and one pony.

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Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, and we have two cats.

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Speaker 7: Anna, Anna, come on.

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Speaker 1: For the past week, I've been introducing my producer Anna

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Speaker 1: to my menagerie. This is one of our cats.

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Speaker 3: Ferguson.

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Speaker 1: She's here because she looked like she could do with

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Speaker 1: a good meal, but also because, and you're not gonna

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Speaker 1: fucking believe this, Heidi's aunt. She lives just fifteen minutes

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Speaker 1: down the road from me. I mean, you can't make

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Speaker 1: this ship up.

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Speaker 8: That's when it comes to people being connected through the show.

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Speaker 8: This feels like the craziest example. You know, down the road,

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Speaker 8: go down.

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Speaker 1: The road, going only four minutes away. I think this

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Speaker 1: is crazy. Throughout the series, we said that we want

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Speaker 1: to learn who our lost sister is, but all we

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Speaker 1: could find were gruesome details about her death, and today

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Speaker 1: we're hoping to find out about how she lived from

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Speaker 1: the people who knew her and loved her. What is

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Speaker 1: it this? Oh, it's says, isn't it cute? Drible cuts?

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Speaker 1: Is that a dinosaur? I think that's a bird. Could

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Speaker 1: we get out of the car and walk through an

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Speaker 1: old wooden gate towards a clapboard building with a porch

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Speaker 1: and a rocking chair. The front yard is full of

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Speaker 1: luscious greenery that's dripping from the heavy Louisiana rainfall. Him, Carol, Carol, Hello.

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Speaker 5: Me too, Rita, Rita.

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Speaker 1: We're greeted at the door by Rita, or Rusty to friends.

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Speaker 1: She's Heidi's aunt by marriage. Rusty's one of those beautiful

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Speaker 1: older women who just radiates a gentle, calm, warmth and

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Speaker 1: understated wisdom.

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Speaker 3: It was a church.

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Speaker 6: What is it you can now tell?

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Speaker 1: I said it, as if we didn't have enough coincidences

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Speaker 1: back in the day, this converted church. It was called

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Speaker 1: Saint Anna, I mean, and come on, Rusty has lived

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Speaker 1: here for decades. And as the first person to ever

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Speaker 1: call it home. She says, you can feel the energy

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Speaker 1: of people in the building, and I can believe that.

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Speaker 1: She guides us through the house with its navy floorboards

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Speaker 1: and persian rugs lit up through the stained glass windows.

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Speaker 1: It's absolutely stunning. As we're taking it all in, we're

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Speaker 1: joined by Anne.

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Speaker 9: I mean, I'm here, so nice to meet you.

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Speaker 1: She's Heidi's cousin and Rusty's niece. Her dog says hello too.

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Speaker 5: This looks like friendly, but just telling her how to jump.

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Speaker 1: This looks like my dog.

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Speaker 9: Yeah, yes, just like my dog.

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Speaker 1: Anne and Rusty seem to be cut from the same

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Speaker 1: Bohemian cloth AND's about eleven years older than Heidi. She's

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Speaker 1: in her early seventies. Now she's a wood turner and

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Speaker 1: artist and talks about driving around in a van for

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Speaker 1: half the year seeking adventures while she still can.

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Speaker 3: So now we get to where its one.

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Speaker 2: Okay, we're coming to.

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Speaker 5: The worm area.

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Speaker 1: We were there On a dining room table surrounded by fruit, salad,

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Speaker 1: hot coffee, and granola bars are photos of Heidi and

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Speaker 1: her family throughout the years. There's one of Heidi as

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Speaker 1: a toddler being cuddled in the backseat of a car.

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Speaker 3: She was two there and I was twelve.

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Speaker 1: This is Lyle. She's an sister and another cousin of Heidie's.

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Speaker 1: Her wavy white hair is effortlessly tied back, and she's

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Speaker 1: wearing a pair of loose fitting traditional Nepalese trousers.

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Speaker 10: We had a big record of the Singing Nuns and

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Speaker 10: we would dance to this song, and there was one

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Speaker 10: in particular we loved, and little two year old Heidi

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Speaker 10: would go over to the record player very delicately, lift

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Speaker 10: up the needle, put it back on the groove where

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Speaker 10: the song like. She never scratched the record, she never

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Speaker 10: missed putting it in the right place. I was just

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Speaker 10: amazed at her dexterity. We must have danced to that

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Speaker 10: song like a hundred times. I think it was a

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Speaker 10: song called Dominika Nika. Anyway, you can tell how much

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Speaker 10: we loved each other.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, this dancing little girl with a family of gorgeous hippies.

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Speaker 1: This isn't the story I was expecting. Here with Heidi's relatives,

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Speaker 1: I get a sense of a life she could have led,

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Speaker 1: full of art and color and music. I wish we

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Speaker 1: could tell that story, but that's not how things worked

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Speaker 1: out for Heidi. So what happened. To understand that, we

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Speaker 1: first need to learn about Heidi's parents, Tom and Gretchen,

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Speaker 1: who met in California in the early nineteen sixties.

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Speaker 3: There was a ten year age gap.

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Speaker 9: She was twenty two and Tom was thirty two or whatever,

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Speaker 9: and he was not living a life that was about

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Speaker 9: having children or finding a wife.

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Speaker 10: My understanding was that he was just kind of a playboy,

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Speaker 10: and so I think he just liked to have sex,

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Speaker 10: and he liked to go out with different women, and

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Speaker 10: he wasn't looking for a relationship.

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Speaker 3: And she got pregnant.

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Speaker 1: When Tom's mother, who the family all called Nana, found

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Speaker 1: out about the pregnancy, she told Tom that he had

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Speaker 1: to do the right thing and marry Gretchen. She felt

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Speaker 1: like it was the only way to give the baby

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Speaker 1: a proper start in life. In the photos from their

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Speaker 1: wedding day, Gretchen is six months pregnant in a sixties

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Speaker 1: coat and a beehive hairdoo. Tom's in a pale suit

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Speaker 1: holding a glass of champagne. He looks like a deer

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Speaker 1: in the headlights. Heidi's born a few months later in

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Speaker 1: California on January seventh, nineteen sixty four. But within in

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Speaker 1: a few months, Tom and Gretchen's marriage is over and

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Speaker 1: Heidi gets stuck between two miserable parents.

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Speaker 2: What struck me about Gretchen was how bitter She was

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Speaker 2: kind of toxic, and Tom became bitter as well. But

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Speaker 2: Tom was bitter about a lot of things. So both

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Speaker 2: parents full of that bitterness, really created an environment that

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Speaker 2: wasn't even close to the atmosphere baby needed. There was

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Speaker 2: no nurturing, there was no making the baby fly up

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Speaker 2: in the air and catch her, or having fun or

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Speaker 2: anything like that.

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Speaker 1: At one point, a local woman is hired by the

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Speaker 1: family to look after baby Heidi, but before long, according

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Speaker 1: to Heidie's cousins, this woman takes Heidie's Nana to one side.

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Speaker 1: She tells her that from what she's seen at Gretchen's apartment,

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Speaker 1: she thinks Gretchen will be the death of Heidi and

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Speaker 1: that the family should get rid of her to protect

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Speaker 1: the baby.

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Speaker 9: She said, you know, I have people in my neighborhood

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Speaker 9: who know how to take care of these kinds of things.

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Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, So let me get this straight. This

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Speaker 1: devout Christian nanny is suggesting that they put a hit

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Speaker 1: out on Heidie's mom.

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Speaker 9: Yeah, Nana was shocked, and of course Nana said no,

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Speaker 9: and you know, it wasn't even a consideration.

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Speaker 1: Nana didn't give up, though. The family tells us that

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Speaker 1: she tried to take custody of Heidi but was unsuccessful.

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Speaker 1: So in the end, she did whatever she could to

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Speaker 1: make Heidi's life as normal as possible. Whenever she came

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Speaker 1: to visit, big family meals with freshly pressed tablecloths, cute

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Speaker 1: girly dresses, riding up and down the curb on a

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Speaker 1: shiny new bike, some money or toys at birthdays and Christmases.

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Speaker 1: But back home with Heidie's mom, things weren't as right.

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Speaker 1: The family told us they suspected that Gretchen was working

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Speaker 1: as a sex worker from her apartment. They heard from

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Speaker 1: people that she had different men over while Heidi was there,

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Speaker 1: that she only had beer in the fridge. One time,

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Speaker 1: the cousins say Heidi came to Nana's house with a

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Speaker 1: cigarette burn on her. It's important to point out here

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Speaker 1: that we can't fact check these claims because we believe

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Speaker 1: Gretchen has passed away, and records show that Tom, Heidi's father,

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Speaker 1: died in twenty twenty three. We do know that Gretchen

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Speaker 1: told the detective who looked into Heidie's case that she

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Speaker 1: was going through a rough patch back then. It all

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00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:48,640
Speaker 1: came to a head when Heidi was five. Gretchen turned

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Speaker 1: up at Tom's front door one day and said she

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Speaker 1: couldn't deal with raising Heidi anymore. She then walked away

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Speaker 1: and left the little girl to live with her equally

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Speaker 1: uninterested father.

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Speaker 9: Tom did come home at night, and Heidie had learned

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Speaker 9: by six or seven to take a frozen dinner out

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Speaker 9: of the freezer and turn on the oven and make

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Speaker 9: it for herself.

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Speaker 1: Heidie's cousins Lyall and Robert show us some more pictures

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Speaker 1: of Heidi.

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Speaker 10: She's not so old in this picture, and you can

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Speaker 10: see that face is someone's gone through.

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Speaker 11: Some Yeah, she was just obviously really lonely.

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Speaker 5: I mean, you look at these photos and there is

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Speaker 5: like a clear change.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, she is just a normal.

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Speaker 3: Happy, cute kid when she's like two three.

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Speaker 12: In these ones, and then there is something about her

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Speaker 12: eyes that just goes Yeah, that's.

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Speaker 5: What I say.

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Speaker 10: I feel like if we put all these pictures in

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Speaker 10: chronological order, you almost see the light go out in

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Speaker 10: her eyes.

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Speaker 1: At school, Heidie's teachers noticed there was something wrong too.

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Speaker 1: In one of her report cards from first grade, it

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Speaker 1: says she almost never smiles. I believe she needs a

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00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:11,280
Speaker 1: great deal of affection right now. But there are also

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Speaker 1: signs of Heidi's creativity and potential. One of her teachers

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Speaker 1: says she was an excellent reader who loved the Chronicles

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Speaker 1: of Narnia. They also say she was a talented writer,

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Speaker 1: producing many fine stories and poems with the wit and

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Speaker 1: humor that was unique to her. There are moments in

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Speaker 1: these reports that show flashes of Heidi's personality, a headstrong

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Speaker 1: young girl who simply wastes too much time doing what

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Speaker 1: she pleases instead of paying attention. One report from nineteen

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Speaker 1: seventy two, when she was eight, says that if Heidi

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Speaker 1: continues receiving the love, help, and understanding she has seen

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Speaker 1: from school and home, then I believe she will make

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Speaker 1: even greater social progress. But the love she received at

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Speaker 1: home didn't come from her dad. That was all Nana,

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Speaker 1: who continued to play a key maternal role in Heidi's life,

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Speaker 1: especially at Christmas when Heidi would go and visit. There

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00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:09,160
Speaker 1: are real sweet photos of her sitting on Santa's knee.

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00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:13,760
Speaker 1: That feel like glimpses of childhood joy. One time, Heidie's aunt,

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Speaker 1: Rusty remembers when they were all at Nana and Grampy's house.

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Speaker 2: Grampy was kind of a grumpy He was the one

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Speaker 2: who decorated the tree every year, that was his tradition,

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Speaker 2: and the tree that he brought in that year had

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Speaker 2: a bird in it, a live bird.

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Speaker 1: Grampy rescues the bird from the tree and brings it outside.

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Speaker 1: But while he's.

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Speaker 2: Gone, Nana said, let's have some fun on it, so

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Speaker 2: they started decorating the tree. Graffy was gone, and Heidi

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Speaker 2: was delighted. It was just wonderful to see her spirit

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Speaker 2: dancing around.

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Speaker 1: But then the worst thing that could happen happened. Grampy

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00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:04,520
Speaker 1: retired and decided he wanted to move to Florida, eleven

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Speaker 1: hundred miles away from Ohio.

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Speaker 10: Nana just was wringing her hands about moving so far

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Speaker 10: away from Heidi, but.

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Speaker 1: Grampy's word was law in their relationship and she had

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Speaker 1: no choice but to go.

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Speaker 10: So there was no longer visits to Nana's house, where

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Speaker 10: there really was stability and home cooked meals.

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Speaker 1: By nineteen seventy two, Heidi loses regular contact with the

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00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:33,800
Speaker 1: most important and loving figure in her life. A few

286
00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:37,640
Speaker 1: years later, in nineteen seventy six, the family are gathered

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00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:41,320
Speaker 1: together for a golden wedding party. Looking at a photo

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Speaker 1: from the day, you can see twelve year old Heidi,

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00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:47,400
Speaker 1: who looks like a young Jodie Foster, but to her

290
00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:52,760
Speaker 1: cousins she seems almost unrecognizable. She's already had several run

291
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Speaker 1: ins with the law and is experiencing things that her

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Speaker 1: older cousins can't even imagine.

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Speaker 10: She was worried that she was pregnant and that she

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Speaker 10: might have hepatitis from shooting up with a dirty needle.

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Speaker 3: I went into shock.

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Speaker 10: I felt like I had gone from being the cousin

297
00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:14,560
Speaker 10: who's ten years older who can lead the dancing, to

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Speaker 10: feeling like I was a country bumpkin who had no experience.

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Speaker 1: It was clear to everyone that Heidi was on a

300
00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:26,920
Speaker 1: downward spiral, and her father Tom seemed to be doing

301
00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:31,320
Speaker 1: nothing to stop it. Around that time, her aunt Rusty

302
00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:34,960
Speaker 1: stepped in. She moved Heidi in with her and her family.

303
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Speaker 11: No.

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00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:38,679
Speaker 2: I thought, well, I could help her. No, and I

305
00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:40,919
Speaker 2: tried to give her some ground rules while we're at

306
00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:44,320
Speaker 2: the house, and she resisted everything. It was this bubble

307
00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:48,560
Speaker 2: that she was in. It seemed that it couldn't be penetrated.

308
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Speaker 1: So she really protected herself, like with a shield of

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00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:52,200
Speaker 1: armor around her.

310
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Speaker 2: She did.

311
00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:57,879
Speaker 1: Eventually, Heidi was forced to attend a reform school in Ohio,

312
00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:01,760
Speaker 1: and for a while she was doing doing well. Heidi

313
00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:04,480
Speaker 1: seemed to thrive with a bit of discipline and structure.

314
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Speaker 1: She was a naturally bright young girl and started advancing

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Speaker 1: in her education again.

316
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Speaker 11: And then the story goes that Tom came to visit her.

317
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Speaker 11: This is Robert, and he took her away. He took

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Speaker 11: her back. Tom had this thing about bucking the system,

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Speaker 11: you know, fuck the man. He hated any kind of authority,

320
00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:30,040
Speaker 11: and so I think he valued that in Heidi too

321
00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:31,600
Speaker 11: and encouraged it.

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Speaker 1: Back in Toledo with her dad, Heidi wanted out. At

323
00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:40,480
Speaker 1: just fourteen years old. She told her dad Tom she

324
00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:43,960
Speaker 1: was moving to California to follow her dreams of being

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Speaker 1: an actress and a model. She said she could get

326
00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:50,119
Speaker 1: a ride with some long distance truck driver she had met.

327
00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:53,400
Speaker 1: Heidie's family couldn't believe Tom was okay with it.

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Speaker 11: You can't allow your daughter to just go and get

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Speaker 11: in a car with anyone. These are grown men. You

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Speaker 11: can't do it.

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Speaker 2: You can't do it.

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Speaker 11: And he's just like, got this dumbass smile and a

333
00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:09,040
Speaker 11: drink in his hand and a pipe. He was, in

334
00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:11,960
Speaker 11: a weird way, proud of her independence.

335
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Speaker 1: But there was no talking to Tom or to Heidi.

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00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:20,680
Speaker 1: And so in nineteen seventy eight, with their dad's consent,

337
00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:24,040
Speaker 1: fourteen year old Heidi gets in the truck with this

338
00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:49,240
Speaker 1: random guy and sets off to make it big in California.

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00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:53,360
Speaker 1: California was the furthest fourteen year old Heidi Bulch had

340
00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:57,120
Speaker 1: ever been from her family. Like so many other teen girls,

341
00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:00,680
Speaker 1: she had aspirations of being a star and an actress

342
00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:03,680
Speaker 1: or maybe a model. She didn't have all the details

343
00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:07,560
Speaker 1: figured out yet. Heidi's family don't know much about her

344
00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:10,480
Speaker 1: life at this point, but what they do know is

345
00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:16,600
Speaker 1: that she never made it big in Hollywood. We're pretty

346
00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:19,320
Speaker 1: sure that she didn't book any acting gigs, and she

347
00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,320
Speaker 1: decided that at five foot one, she was too short

348
00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:26,280
Speaker 1: to make it as a catalog model. So, at age sixteen,

349
00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:29,480
Speaker 1: Heidi packs up her life and once again, with her

350
00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:34,879
Speaker 1: father's blessing, she decides to move, this time to New

351
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:42,280
Speaker 1: York City. When Heidi arrives in the Big Apple, her

352
00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:45,960
Speaker 1: dreams have changed, well kind of, because of her height.

353
00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:48,359
Speaker 1: She thinks she might have better luck as a hand

354
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Speaker 1: and face model, so she starts putting a portfolio together.

355
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Speaker 1: Picturing a sixteen year old Heidi alone in New York,

356
00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:00,760
Speaker 1: it makes me think of my own daughter when she

357
00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:03,800
Speaker 1: was sixteen. She was still in school, she was learning

358
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,600
Speaker 1: to drive a car and starting to think about colleges.

359
00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:12,160
Speaker 1: As a mother, it's hard for me to understand how

360
00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:15,320
Speaker 1: anyone could let their child go off alone into a

361
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:20,560
Speaker 1: city as dangerous as New York in the eighties, Heidi

362
00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:23,960
Speaker 1: no doubt considered herself pretty street wise, and in a

363
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,919
Speaker 1: lot of ways she was, but she was also just

364
00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:31,960
Speaker 1: a kid in need of some love and guidance. According

365
00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:34,760
Speaker 1: to her family, Heidie's dad paid the rent on a

366
00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:38,920
Speaker 1: studio apartment for her, but he never visited. Heidi was

367
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:46,639
Speaker 1: left to fend for herself. Her life became increasingly turbulent.

368
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,160
Speaker 1: She was falling deeper into the throes of drug addiction,

369
00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:55,480
Speaker 1: and she got arrested multiple times. According to her cousin, Robert,

370
00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:58,159
Speaker 1: who was living in New York at the time. Within

371
00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:00,840
Speaker 1: a few years of being in the city, Heidie found

372
00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:05,440
Speaker 1: herself an infamous Island jail Rikers her robbery and assault.

373
00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:08,760
Speaker 11: Heidi was a tough character by that point, so she

374
00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:14,040
Speaker 11: prided herself in knowing how to navigate being in Rikers

375
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:19,760
Speaker 11: and she would ask for different things like socks and cigarettes,

376
00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:24,160
Speaker 11: whatever underpants, and she could barter use them to her advantage.

377
00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:27,240
Speaker 11: But she took real pride in being able to handle herself.

378
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:30,639
Speaker 1: After Heidi came out of Rikers when she was around

379
00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:33,399
Speaker 1: twenty one, her family arranged for her to go to

380
00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:37,199
Speaker 1: Florida for a few months to stay with Nana. While there,

381
00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:40,000
Speaker 1: she spoke about getting clean and even got her high

382
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:43,879
Speaker 1: school ged. But this brief respite from her life in

383
00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:47,080
Speaker 1: New York didn't last. Once she returned to the city,

384
00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:51,240
Speaker 1: she fell back into her old ways. She'd stop buy

385
00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:53,560
Speaker 1: and visit her family, who were living in the city,

386
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:55,840
Speaker 1: every once in a while for dinner or to get

387
00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,920
Speaker 1: a few extra bucks, but they weren't seeing very much

388
00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:01,960
Speaker 1: of her. A lot of her life was a mystery

389
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:02,320
Speaker 1: to them.

390
00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:07,560
Speaker 11: We knew she was addicted to drugs and using her

391
00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:08,840
Speaker 11: sexuality in some way.

392
00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:13,760
Speaker 9: She was really on the downward spiral, and it may

393
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:16,560
Speaker 9: have even been around a discussion about being a sex worker.

394
00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:20,320
Speaker 9: She just came out with this statement. She said, well,

395
00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:21,440
Speaker 9: you know, I'm a lesbian.

396
00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:26,680
Speaker 1: But after coming out as a lesbian, Heidi suddenly marries

397
00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:27,080
Speaker 1: a man.

398
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:32,679
Speaker 9: She met this guy who was attempting to get a

399
00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:35,280
Speaker 9: green card and struck a deal.

400
00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:40,040
Speaker 1: Allegedly, he gave Heidi fifteen hundred dollars to marry him.

401
00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:43,960
Speaker 1: It seems very much like a business transaction. As far

402
00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:51,240
Speaker 1: as we know, there was no real relationship. Heidi's addiction

403
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:55,280
Speaker 1: continued to spiral. At various points in the mid to

404
00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:58,000
Speaker 1: late eighties, her family tried to step in.

405
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:03,160
Speaker 9: I was living in New York and my parents, Heidie's

406
00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:08,760
Speaker 9: aunt and uncle were making one more effort to try

407
00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:13,520
Speaker 9: to get her into drug rehabilitation. And the last night

408
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,320
Speaker 9: before she said she would go, and my folks were

409
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:20,840
Speaker 9: going to take her. They had gotten a hotel room

410
00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:23,200
Speaker 9: about a half a block away from where they lived.

411
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:30,359
Speaker 9: I remember being in the hotel room and Heidi was

412
00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:35,720
Speaker 9: going into the bathroom like every twenty minutes, and you know,

413
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,920
Speaker 9: it was sort of obvious that she was taking drugs.

414
00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:47,160
Speaker 9: She was using needles and heroin by that point, and

415
00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:51,200
Speaker 9: I remember seeing her legs in her arms in that

416
00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:57,280
Speaker 9: way that really advanced drug addicts have pustules of sores.

417
00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:04,200
Speaker 9: And it was already that she had had an AIDS diagnosis,

418
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:16,439
Speaker 9: and she wanted a smoothie and I said, well, I

419
00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:18,679
Speaker 9: can go over to Orange Julius, you know, one of

420
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:23,320
Speaker 9: those corner store places in New York, and get you one.

421
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:26,520
Speaker 9: And she said, you know, I'm organic.

422
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:34,919
Speaker 12: That's great, and it was just so funny, like it

423
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:42,920
Speaker 12: was like, oh my god, she's organic, and she wasn't

424
00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:43,840
Speaker 12: there the next morning.

425
00:27:51,040 --> 00:28:02,159
Speaker 1: A Heidie's life in New York was, to put it,

426
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:06,800
Speaker 1: mildly unpredictable. But in amongst all the chaos, there was

427
00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:09,639
Speaker 1: one person in her life that she would never bail on,

428
00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:15,200
Speaker 1: her beloved Nana. Every January on her birthday, Heidi would

429
00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:17,840
Speaker 1: call Nana and they catch up a little.

430
00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:19,720
Speaker 9: And Nana would say, oh, I want to send you

431
00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:21,680
Speaker 9: a check, and you know, it's so nice to hear

432
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:24,520
Speaker 9: from you, and you know, it was kind of a

433
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:26,399
Speaker 9: way to know that she was alive and well.

434
00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:31,800
Speaker 10: And it was nineteen ninety when she doesn't call Nana,

435
00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:34,680
Speaker 10: and now it's been a year almost and so everybody

436
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:36,280
Speaker 10: was knowing something's going on.

437
00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:41,400
Speaker 1: Increasingly worrying for Heidi's welfare, Nana reaches out to Heidie's

438
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:43,800
Speaker 1: green card husband to see if he's heard from her,

439
00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 1: and he.

440
00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:47,680
Speaker 9: Said, oh, yeah, she's fine. You know, she's over on

441
00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:51,560
Speaker 9: the Alphabet Land Avenue A, and I haven't really seen

442
00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:54,120
Speaker 9: her seen her, but I know other people have seen

443
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:58,600
Speaker 9: her and just led Nana on. That went on for

444
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:03,800
Speaker 9: a number of years, and so Nana was not suspecting anymore.

445
00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:07,240
Speaker 9: She believed it and said, oh, well, she's just like

446
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,520
Speaker 9: in more trouble and you know she's she's on drugs.

447
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:16,120
Speaker 9: Because the fake husband was reassuring Nana for his own

448
00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:21,920
Speaker 9: self interest, that she was alive. Nana died in nineteen

449
00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:28,040
Speaker 9: ninety six, so she never knew whether Heidi was really

450
00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:28,520
Speaker 9: missing or.

451
00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:32,280
Speaker 12: Not, and probably it was better that way for Nana.

452
00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:34,080
Speaker 3: Oh, without a doubt.

453
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:39,920
Speaker 1: When Nana died, these calls stopped and Heidi's family were

454
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:43,840
Speaker 1: left wondering what happened to her. Robert tried to console

455
00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:47,280
Speaker 1: himself with fantasies of Heidi having turned her life around.

456
00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:50,520
Speaker 11: My narrative, the thing that I hope was that she

457
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:54,760
Speaker 11: joined a cult and she was like in Arizona and

458
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,000
Speaker 11: changed her name to Sunbeam. And you know, she was

459
00:29:58,560 --> 00:29:59,840
Speaker 11: gotten clean and healthy.

460
00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:03,480
Speaker 1: But as time went on, nobody had spoken directly with

461
00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:06,960
Speaker 1: Heidi for several years, the family began to wonder whether

462
00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:15,760
Speaker 1: something serious had happened. Throughout the nineties, the family tried

463
00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:19,560
Speaker 1: to make Heidie's father, Tom, file a missing person's report,

464
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:20,480
Speaker 1: but he.

465
00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:25,560
Speaker 10: Refused because of his dislike of any authority, Like that's

466
00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:28,440
Speaker 10: why he kept telling our mom, no, don't report it yet.

467
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:32,480
Speaker 10: Somehow he maybe was scared or just disliked the police

468
00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:33,360
Speaker 10: so much or something.

469
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:37,920
Speaker 1: I can't understand how any parent could go years without

470
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:41,280
Speaker 1: knowing if their child is alive or dead and do nothing.

471
00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:47,440
Speaker 1: The rest of the family felt torn. They were desperately

472
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:50,880
Speaker 1: worried for Heidie's welfare, but they wanted to respect Tom's

473
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:56,320
Speaker 1: wishes as her father, so they stood by until eventually,

474
00:30:56,480 --> 00:31:00,000
Speaker 1: in two thousand and one, Heidie's aunt Robin, took matters

475
00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:01,360
Speaker 1: into her own hands.

476
00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:07,440
Speaker 9: My mother just couldn't stand it anymore, and so she

477
00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:09,520
Speaker 9: just decided I have to report her missing.

478
00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 1: Over the years, the family checked in with the police,

479
00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:18,480
Speaker 1: but there was no sign of Heidi anywhere. There also

480
00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:22,280
Speaker 1: wasn't any media attention, not like there was in Gail's case.

481
00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:25,640
Speaker 1: Heidie's face didn't appear in the news or on a

482
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:30,040
Speaker 1: milk carton under missing. I have to wonder if it's

483
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:32,640
Speaker 1: because Heidi was a sex worker and a drug addict.

484
00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:36,880
Speaker 1: She wasn't a perfect victim, and maybe she reflected backup

485
00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:39,800
Speaker 1: people the kind of life they wanted to hide away from.

486
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:48,040
Speaker 1: Given how much Heidi means to me, to Anna, to Mindy,

487
00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:51,760
Speaker 1: to Elaine, to all of us girlfriends, it's heartbreaking to

488
00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:55,920
Speaker 1: think that for so long her story was just ignored.

489
00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:01,120
Speaker 1: Until twenty thirteen, when Heidi's ain't Row gets a very

490
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:02,800
Speaker 1: important visit for.

491
00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:06,680
Speaker 3: Hope Well detectives knocked on her door and said, could

492
00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:07,600
Speaker 3: this be your niece?

493
00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:10,280
Speaker 9: My mother took one month with the pictures and she said,

494
00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:11,840
Speaker 9: that's Heidi.

495
00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:16,520
Speaker 1: This was when the family learned that Heidi was dead

496
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:20,280
Speaker 1: and that the serial killer Joel Rifkin was responsible for

497
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:21,000
Speaker 1: her murder.

498
00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:25,760
Speaker 11: And then my sister Anne, she got right on the

499
00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:31,160
Speaker 11: commuter start investigating and she tells me, you know, Heidie

500
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:32,040
Speaker 11: was decapitated.

501
00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:37,280
Speaker 1: It was all so much darker, so much more heartbreaking

502
00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:38,960
Speaker 1: than they ever could have imagined.

503
00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:43,320
Speaker 11: I mean, it was one of those moments though, where

504
00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:46,800
Speaker 11: were you when you found out? When the towers came

505
00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:47,520
Speaker 11: down or whatever?

506
00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:53,960
Speaker 10: It was definitely shocking. It was, I mean, kind of

507
00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:55,320
Speaker 10: knocked my breath out.

508
00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:59,560
Speaker 1: Trying to come to terms with what's happened. The family

509
00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,800
Speaker 1: seek out as much information as they can. They come

510
00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:06,960
Speaker 1: across old news articles about Heidi's death before she was identified,

511
00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:10,719
Speaker 1: articles they may have read a few years previously, without

512
00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:12,400
Speaker 1: knowing the connection they had.

513
00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:17,400
Speaker 10: I think I saw the headline that said head has

514
00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:25,200
Speaker 10: aids and I just felt like I couldn't talk about it,

515
00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:29,520
Speaker 10: or I just didn't, you know, I didn't know how

516
00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:31,840
Speaker 10: to process it. I didn't know what to do with it.

517
00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:36,600
Speaker 1: The callous, in dismissive way Heidie was spoken about by

518
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:39,680
Speaker 1: the press after her death is a fucked up mirror

519
00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:42,480
Speaker 1: image of the way Joel Rifkin saw her and his

520
00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:45,920
Speaker 1: other victims. He spoke about it in the book From

521
00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:47,240
Speaker 1: the Mouth of a Monster.

522
00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:50,480
Speaker 10: I didn't read the whole book, but I have it

523
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:53,400
Speaker 10: in my mind that he said, well, I picked these

524
00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,000
Speaker 10: kind of girls because no one's looking for them. They

525
00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:57,280
Speaker 10: don't have families that care.

526
00:33:58,080 --> 00:33:58,800
Speaker 7: And that just.

527
00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:03,080
Speaker 10: Felt like a dagger in my heart to be well,

528
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:06,840
Speaker 10: how long did it take for us to report it.

529
00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:13,239
Speaker 10: We wouldn't have known, like within a week or two,

530
00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:15,839
Speaker 10: because no one was in that close touch with her.

531
00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:21,200
Speaker 10: But by that summer we could have said, we should

532
00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:23,400
Speaker 10: get some help in case we can't find her. You know,

533
00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:28,839
Speaker 10: if we had reported it, maybe it would have led

534
00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:30,760
Speaker 10: to him being caught.

535
00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:36,200
Speaker 3: There'd be sixteen other women still alive.

536
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:47,040
Speaker 1: Lyle Robert and Anne have been trying to figure out

537
00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:51,120
Speaker 1: how their cousin, the girl they shared Christmases with, who

538
00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:54,360
Speaker 1: played the danting nuns on repeat until the record nearly

539
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:58,160
Speaker 1: wore out, who had dreams of being a star, how

540
00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:00,279
Speaker 1: it is that she could have gone down so a

541
00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:03,120
Speaker 1: different road to them.

542
00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:10,600
Speaker 10: It makes me realize that intact, consistent, reliable love that

543
00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:18,239
Speaker 10: our parents gave us, How valuable that is, how important

544
00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:20,719
Speaker 10: that is. Like I could be right where Heidi was

545
00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:22,240
Speaker 10: if I had had Uncle Tom.

546
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:26,600
Speaker 11: And I mean she did have love from Nana, yeah

547
00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:29,959
Speaker 11: and whatever Tom, in a weird way, there were little

548
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:35,680
Speaker 11: pockets of it, you know, So she wasn't completely deprived.

549
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:40,160
Speaker 11: I'm not. It's we're just still trying to sort it

550
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:42,080
Speaker 11: out and figure it out, Like, how does a life

551
00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:47,760
Speaker 11: go so wrong? You know, how does that happen?

552
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:58,480
Speaker 1: After the twenty and thirteen police investigation, all of Heidi's remains,

553
00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:04,120
Speaker 1: including her torso, were finally reunited and cremated as one.

554
00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:08,359
Speaker 1: The family had some kind of closure, But what they

555
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:12,200
Speaker 1: didn't know until we came along was that Heidi's torso

556
00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:15,560
Speaker 1: had been buried for nearly ten years in the grave

557
00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:19,759
Speaker 1: of Gail Cats. So we thought it fitting to introduce

558
00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:22,720
Speaker 1: them to the woman who visited her all those years,

559
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:27,120
Speaker 1: Gail's sister Elaine.

560
00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:31,280
Speaker 2: Hi, Hi, we have something terrible in common.

561
00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:36,120
Speaker 6: I am so sorry, thank you, I am so sorry

562
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:36,560
Speaker 6: to you.

563
00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:39,200
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you.

564
00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:39,400
Speaker 13: You know.

565
00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:44,400
Speaker 9: I think that it's only since we got connected with

566
00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:50,479
Speaker 9: Anna and learned the story of the misidentified torso and

567
00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:56,360
Speaker 9: realized that there was a lot of peace that we

568
00:36:56,480 --> 00:37:01,160
Speaker 9: have felt knowing that somebody loved her and buried her,

569
00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:06,320
Speaker 9: and that she was cared about for a period of time,

570
00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:11,360
Speaker 9: when for twenty five years it was a total mystery.

571
00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:18,960
Speaker 6: You know, Heide's torso gave my family an enormous amount

572
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:20,719
Speaker 6: of peace and closure.

573
00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:22,399
Speaker 2: Burying her.

574
00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:26,839
Speaker 6: We finally felt that, you know, we had some part

575
00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:32,440
Speaker 6: of my sister back. So thank you for lending her

576
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:33,680
Speaker 6: to me and my family.

577
00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:36,960
Speaker 2: That's a big heart that you have.

578
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:44,920
Speaker 9: We know and appreciate that there was loving energy going

579
00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:45,719
Speaker 9: her way.

580
00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:48,759
Speaker 2: In Heidi's story, that means a lot.

581
00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:57,239
Speaker 1: As we end the call with the Lane, the Louisiana

582
00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:01,080
Speaker 1: sky is getting dark. Still strew across the table in

583
00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:04,479
Speaker 1: front of us are the documents and photographs. It gives

584
00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:07,799
Speaker 1: us snapshots in the Heidi's too short life, and it

585
00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:10,799
Speaker 1: might be the rainstorm or maybe the spirits in the

586
00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:13,759
Speaker 1: house that Rusty talked about. But the lights start to

587
00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:17,319
Speaker 1: flicker on and off, and the conversation turns to what

588
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:18,800
Speaker 1: Heidi would make of all of this.

589
00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:24,400
Speaker 9: At one point, when she was in her teen years,

590
00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:28,960
Speaker 9: she said to me, you know, what I really want

591
00:38:29,239 --> 00:38:31,080
Speaker 9: is to be on the cover of a magazine and

592
00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:33,880
Speaker 9: have my mother see me on the cover of a

593
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:39,640
Speaker 9: magazine when I'm famous. Like the motivation was to be

594
00:38:39,719 --> 00:38:45,400
Speaker 9: discovered by her mother. Yeah, and she's not a famous

595
00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:49,240
Speaker 9: hand model or an actress who's doing brilliant work.

596
00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:53,160
Speaker 3: But maybe this is the legacy we've been waiting for.

597
00:38:54,120 --> 00:38:57,680
Speaker 9: Maybe this is being on the cover of the magazine

598
00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:02,319
Speaker 9: in some weird way, and I think she will be

599
00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:08,400
Speaker 9: represented now with a story. It's more than the blood

600
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:10,280
Speaker 9: and gore on the internet.

601
00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:16,080
Speaker 2: I'm glad that you all are telling it. I also

602
00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:21,879
Speaker 2: have the sense that the girlfriends are growing in numbers. Yes,

603
00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:24,239
Speaker 2: and count me in.

604
00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:27,600
Speaker 5: I love that.

605
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:30,279
Speaker 1: I'd like to think that, Gail and Heidi, you're just

606
00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:32,400
Speaker 1: friends somewhere in the ethers.

607
00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:36,920
Speaker 14: I was thinking that too, in the ethers, but maybe

608
00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:42,920
Speaker 14: it was like a destiny right thing and a divine intervention.

609
00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:06,040
Speaker 1: Today, Heidi's ashes are scattered underneath a palm tree somewhere

610
00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:09,759
Speaker 1: in Florida. It's nice to imagine her there, soaking up

611
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:21,760
Speaker 1: the sun. Finally at peace. I'm back on the shores

612
00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:26,080
Speaker 1: of Staten Island, where Heidi first entered our story. Mindy

613
00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:29,879
Speaker 1: and Anna are with me. The three of us are

614
00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:34,799
Speaker 1: gathered here one final time, in this beautiful, slightly melancholy

615
00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:43,000
Speaker 1: spot to say goodbye. We started this journey with one

616
00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:47,319
Speaker 1: mission to find our lost sister, and now that we've

617
00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:50,520
Speaker 1: not only found her but named her two, we're here

618
00:40:50,560 --> 00:40:54,360
Speaker 1: to give her a proper sendoff. So we're gonna do

619
00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:57,920
Speaker 1: it in the only way we know how. Very Jewish,

620
00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:01,320
Speaker 1: a little slap dash with a lot of heart.

621
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:06,960
Speaker 4: In the Jewish tradition, if you visit a grave site,

622
00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:10,279
Speaker 4: you leave a stone, and I think we should leave

623
00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:11,120
Speaker 4: a stone here.

624
00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:12,879
Speaker 10: I love that.

625
00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:13,800
Speaker 14: Let's leave the snow.

626
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:17,200
Speaker 2: Where are you going to place it?

627
00:41:19,239 --> 00:41:22,279
Speaker 1: I'm going to go down there, walking right out to

628
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:26,520
Speaker 1: the water's edge. Mindy gently lays down the stone.

629
00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:29,120
Speaker 5: Is that something you say when you do this?

630
00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:33,840
Speaker 1: Normally you say yes? Score? Jitsker is a special memorial

631
00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:36,520
Speaker 1: prayer for the departed, where you say the name of

632
00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:40,280
Speaker 1: the dead you wish to honor. It means may God remember,

633
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:45,680
Speaker 1: But sadly and a little ironically, we don't remember the words.

634
00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:48,840
Speaker 2: Okay, Siri, can you say y?

635
00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:49,360
Speaker 10: Score?

636
00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:54,120
Speaker 1: Okay? How to get your credit report?

637
00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:54,480
Speaker 12: Now?

638
00:41:56,640 --> 00:42:00,920
Speaker 1: We warned you slap dash, But eventually Mindy finds what

639
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:04,800
Speaker 1: she's looking for. So, dear listener, we'd like you to

640
00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:07,400
Speaker 1: join us in taking a moment to remember.

641
00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:41,160
Speaker 8: Heidi, balch okay, are you ready.

642
00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:46,319
Speaker 13: Showcat on me? Moments an don't gonna.

643
00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:49,319
Speaker 2: Should be.

644
00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:50,320
Speaker 5: Taken sho.

645
00:43:35,880 --> 00:43:45,880
Speaker 4: Heidi, okay, shall oh that's any one?

646
00:43:47,360 --> 00:43:48,200
Speaker 9: Yeah, it's enough.

647
00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:55,920
Speaker 1: There's there's gotta be a shorter one. I'd like to

648
00:43:56,000 --> 00:43:58,759
Speaker 1: imagine that Hidie and Gil are looking down on us

649
00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:02,520
Speaker 1: from the ethers, both of them laughing at me. Mindy

650
00:44:02,600 --> 00:44:05,840
Speaker 1: and Anna as we awkwardly make our way off the beach,

651
00:44:06,440 --> 00:44:11,440
Speaker 1: leaving behind two unassuming stones just on the water's edge,

652
00:44:11,760 --> 00:44:35,359
Speaker 1: one for Heidi and one for Gail. This story is

653
00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:38,399
Speaker 1: for all of us. It's for Gail and for her

654
00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:43,280
Speaker 1: sister Elaine. It's for Anne and Rusty and Lyle and Robert.

655
00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:47,000
Speaker 1: But most of all, this story is for Heidi Balch,

656
00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:52,160
Speaker 1: who is no longer our lost sister. Because we found you, Heidi,

657
00:44:53,040 --> 00:45:19,919
Speaker 1: and we will never forget you. The girlfriends Our Lost

658
00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:24,319
Speaker 1: Sister is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more

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Speaker 1: from novel, visit novel dot Audio. The show is hosted

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Speaker 1: by me Carol Fisher, and our chief investigator is Mindy Shapiro.

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Speaker 1: To find me on social media, search Carol A. Fisher

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Speaker 1: That's Carol with an E. The season is written and

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Speaker 1: produced by Anna Sinfield and Lee Meyer. Our assistant producer

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Speaker 1: is Madeline Parr. The editor is Joe Wheeler. Max O'Brien

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Speaker 1: is our executive producer. Our fact checker is Dania Suleiman.

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Speaker 1: Production management from Sharie Houston and Charlotte Wolf. Sound design,

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Speaker 1: mixing and scoring by Daniel Kempsen and Nicholas Alexander music

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Speaker 1: supervision by Anna Sinfield and Nicholas Alexander. Original music composed

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Speaker 1: and performed by Luisa Gerstein and produced by Louisa Gerstein

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Speaker 1: and Nicholas Alexander. The series artwork was designed by Christina Limkuhl.

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Speaker 1: Story development by Anna Sinfield. Willard Foxton is creative director

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Speaker 1: of Development. Our executive producers at iHeart Podcasts are Katrina

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Speaker 1: Norvel and Nikki Etour special thanks to Canter, Daniella Guessenheit,

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Speaker 1: and Leona Hamid, plus Elie Canter, Carrie Lieberman, and Will

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Speaker 1: Pearson at iHeart Podcasts, as well as Carly Frankel and

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Speaker 1: the whole team at WME, and a special shout out

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Speaker 1: to Vince Hayward, my life partner in True Crime for

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Speaker 1: taking on the role of girlfriend's confidante and lead tech support.

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Speaker 1: The Girlfriends will return with the brand news story and

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Speaker 1: a new host soon.

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Speaker 3: Novel