WEBVTT - The Girlfriends S2/E1: A Double Mitzvah 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:06.880 Novel. 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:13.560 Hey listener, I just wanted to give you a heads 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.920 up on what to expect from this series. As always, 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:22.080 The Girlfriends is about solidarity, sisterhood, and uplifting women's voices, 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:24.920 but this is also a story about violence of the 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:28.320 most terrible kind against women. There's going to be mentions 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:31.200 of murder, and we'll also reference drug and alcohol use. 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:35.000 Above all, we're going to talk a lot about missing 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:39.200 and unidentified people. But on the way, as we tread 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:42.320 along this dark, uncertain path, we're going to try to 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:46.520 find moments of light, because that's what life is. It's 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:50.479 the good and the bad, the joy and the misery 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:54.880 all mixed up into one. If you feel impacted by 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:57.840 any of the themes while listening, I encourage you to 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:02.120 check out our charity partner, DNA Dough Project. They work 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:05.840 with law enforcement to identify Jane and John Doe's using 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.800 genetic genealogy in the hopes of reuniting the bodies of 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:13.959 unidentified people with their families. You can find them at 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:18.320 dnadough project dot org. Oh and just one more thing, 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:21.160 I still swear like a sailor, So if you're up 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:24.400 for listening, you're gonna hear a fair amount of let's say, 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:27.520 colorful language, but come on, you know me by now. 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:34.000 With familial Yeah, this is it. 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:35.560 I think it might get that one over there. 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:37.280 Oh you go the wine? 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:41.120 Yeah? What's that old saying? Men come and go, but 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:45.520 girlfriends are for life. Well, hi, girlfriend, we are back. 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:56.560 It's a dark, cold evening on the sixth night of 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:00.920 Hanukah in twenty twenty three. Myself, my good Nindy, and 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:04.880 my producer Anna are in New York visiting the Lane Cats. 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:07.400 This is the first time we've all been in the 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:10.079 same room together, and we've got a lot of catching 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:12.960 up to do, so we'd best start pouring the wine. 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:13.960 Did you want me to. 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:15.120 Open up something you bought? 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:17.239 The red on the table or the pink in the 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:19.079 refrigerator or both. 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:20.239 Oh. 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:25.720 The last time I saw any of these ladies, we 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:29.600 were recording Season one of The Girlfriends. We told the 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:32.600 story of how we came together and helped law enforcement 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:36.400 solve a fifteen year old cold case, and as a result, 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:40.520 we put my fucking asshole ex boyfriend Bob behind bars 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:44.160 for the murder of his wife, Gail Cats. Now you 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.000 can listen to that first, if you haven't already. 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:51.560 After we wrapped this series. 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:53.800 I felt like I finally put that strange part of 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:57.000 my life in the past. But that was wishful thinking, 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:00.919 because it turns out that lurking within one cold case 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:09.440 was another, the case of our lost sister. In nineteen 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:13.440 eighty nine, a few years after Gail Cats disappeared, a 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:17.560 woman's torso washed up on Staten Island. She was then 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:22.200 misidentified as Gail Cats, and after spending nearly a decade 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:25.560 buried in the Cat's family plot, she was exhumed for 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:30.400 DNA testing in the lead up to Bob's trial. When 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:33.680 the results came back and confirmed that she was not Gail, 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:42.240 she just sort of disappeared. It's been thirty five years 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:45.040 since she washed up on that shore, and we still 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:47.960 don't know her name, which just doesn't sit. 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:49.160 Right with us. 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:53.720 There is this Jewish. 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:56.440 Belief that after death, your name is still connected to 0:03:56.480 --> 0:04:00.000 your soul, and so saying somebody's name after they died 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:05.120 is part of how we remember them. We need to 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:07.760 give our girl her name back so that we can 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:08.960 honor her properly. 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:12.320 We owe that to her, We owe it to. 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:16.840 Every murdered and missing woman whose stories go untold because 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:23.000 those stories matter, and because no girlfriend gets left behind, 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:29.200 We've decided to come together again to try and find 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:32.880 out who she is once and for all. We've got 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:36.520 Gail's sister, Elaine Katz, who is a powerhouse of a lawyer. 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:41.880 Most importantly for this new investigation, Elaine spent nine years 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:45.200 believing that our Jane Doe was her sister and has 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:48.080 been wondering who she really is ever since. 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:51.800 When they told me that they had made the wrongful identification, 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:53.960 that was a very blow point. 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:58.039 Then there's Mindy Shapiro, my dear friend, who once not 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:01.560 so dearly set me up with that aforementioned murderer. 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:04.480 I mean me, at least I say he's perfect on paper. 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:07.919 See what you think I thought? I said the. 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:12.000 Exact same thing about him, perfect on paper, exact same words. 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:16.000 Mindy's also a fabulous doctor and the girlfriend's answered to 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:18.160 Sherlock Holmes with the nose. 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:19.520 For digging into the unknown. 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:25.479 And finally, our most recent recruit, producer Anna aka Anna 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:30.080 the Vegan aka the British One. Anna wrote and produced 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:32.880 the first series of the podcast and has been officially 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:37.680 adopted as a member of our club and adopted in general. 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:38.720 I have no children. 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:40.960 You could be my daughter. You can be my daughter. 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.960 So where do we start? This is a thirty five 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:53.679 year old cold case, a case that couldn't be solved 0:05:53.680 --> 0:06:00.680 by the police, the medical examiners, or anyone else. As 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:04.640 I'm sure you've picked up, We're not professional detectives. We're 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:08.400 just three nosy Jewish ladies and one tofu eating producer. 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:10.640 But we really really care. 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:14.839 I'm determined that by the end of the series, not 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:18.280 only will we know this missing girlfriend's name, but we 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:20.440 will know her story. 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:25.400 So back to that question, where do we start? Well, 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:26.240 how bad? 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:30.640 At the beginning, I'm Carol Fisher and from the teams 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:34.800 at Novel and iHeart Podcasts, this is the girlfriends Our 0:06:34.880 --> 0:07:09.640 Lost Sister, Episode one a double mitzvah. 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:11.040 Okay, where are we? 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:13.720 Statton Island Fairy? 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:16.400 I think you go? 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:18.680 This is free, that's. 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:21.360 Free, truth be told. 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:23.680 I don't know how you're meant to open up a 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:27.120 cold case, but in all my years working in hospice care, 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:30.280 one thing I've learned is that there's a reason we 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:34.360 often lean on ceremony and ritual when remembering the dead. 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:38.120 It brings order to what we can understand, which is 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:42.840 why myself, Mindy and producer Anna are heading to Staten Island. 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:45.560 We're on a pilgrimage back. 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.640 To the place where our lost sister first appeared before 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:52.240 she got irreversibly tangled up with the story of Gailcats 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:56.760 and our lives. We get ushered onto the ferry and 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:00.960 grab a seat downstairs, leaving the other tourists shivering on deck. 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:03.080 It is h I'm really lucky. 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:04.200 It's not raining. M h. 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:06.320 Even if it's a little cold. 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:10.640 It's a little cold is an understated I'm happy to 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:12.720 know I got it, but I will give New York 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:16.560 it stews. Despite the cold, it's a beautiful day. There 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:19.360 isn't a cloud in the sky, and the water is shimmering, 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:23.960 reflecting the Manhattan Skyline back onto its own high rise windows. 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:29.080 Just for a moment, we feel like we're on vacation, 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:32.280 with Mindy Shapiro in the role of tour guide. 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:37.960 Statue of Liberty, hey Hey, New York, New Ywick. 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:42.479 As we move past Brooklyn and then through the industrial 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:45.280 parts of the Bay, I wonder if we're retracing a 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.000 journey our Jane Doe could have taken through the water 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:51.200 before her torso washed up on the shore on May 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:54.719 twenty one, nineteen eighty nine. It gives me a kind 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:58.760 of spooky feeling to imagine we're following in her footsteps, 0:08:58.760 --> 0:08:59.440 so to speak. 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:07.400 Everybody seems to be going out our boat docks at 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:09.720 Saint George's Terminal in Staten Island. 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:12.640 We follow the crowd into a building which has the 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.040 vibe of a small town strip mall, and after an 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:19.120 embarrassing amount of time spent trying to find the exit, 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:21.079 we eventually make it out. 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:25.960 Okay Street. 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:32.760 Where on the street Okay. 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:35.920 After a short drive, we arrive at Front Street, the 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:42.880 location where the torso first washed ashore. When we get 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:46.840 out of the car, we emerge into a new industrial landscape. 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:52.199 There's apartment buildings, offices, and construction sites, and in front of. 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:53.880 Us, well, here are the piers. 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:58.439 Most of the piers are fenced off due to building works, 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.720 and we can't spot an entry point, so I get 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:07.920 creative joy wirecutters. As we're looking for a spot to 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:12.120 enter totally legally, we notice that none of these piers 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:19.040 are matching the location we had in our minds. We 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:22.240 always imagined that she was found on the water's edge, 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:25.360 but there's no beaches here, it's just water right up 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:29.559 to the ocean wall. So we walk a little further 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.200 out and that's when we see it. 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:36.240 I'm just looking at a little beachhead right over there. Yeah, like, 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:38.040 this kind of beach area. 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.160 Looks more like what I imagined. 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:44.240 And I swear I heard that it washed. 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:48.120 Washed Sure, sure I remember those words. 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:51.600 Yeah, this feels way more like it. 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:53.800 Yeah, this seems right. 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:01.560 We arrived at some rail lanes fencing off a shingle 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:04.800 beach with some old wooden posts jutting out of the water. 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:11.080 It's a remarkably peaceful scene with the waves crashing gently 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:15.000 onto the pebbles, and probably for the first time in 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:18.439 our goddamn lives, all three of us shut up. 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:41.680 The whole thing is so horrific. 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:46.679 But standing here, this is actually quite a beautiful scene 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:52.680 beneath the bridge and the New York skyline and the 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:59.080 sound of the water. So as violent and horrific as 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:04.680 her death would have been, you know, maybe there is 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:09.040 some karma, that there's some calmness and beauty to where 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:12.240 her her heart was found. 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:18.480 You know, it also makes me really think about Gail 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:27.480 and how she was just discarded into the water. Bob Beerenbaum, 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:31.440 my ex boyfriend, and Gail Katz's husband, threw Gail's body 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:35.680 out of a plane into the Atlantic Ocean. It's unlikely 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:38.920 that Gail's body will ever be found, which only makes 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:43.400 our investigation into our Jane Doo's identity all the more meaningful. 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:49.960 To think of someone's life taken not only way too short, 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:54.679 but then disposed of the way it was, and then 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:57.480 the torso washes up here. I just find it incredibly sad. 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:10.440 It's almost like it's become the moral obligation to find her. 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:15.200 Now that we're here, in this spot where it all began, 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:19.320 we feel like it's important to mark the occasion with 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:24.240 the ceremony of sorts. It can often be hard to 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.640 know what to say when you're dealing with death, especially 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.120 death as tragic and brutal as these two. 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:32.400 So I thought i'd read something. 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:37.880 There's this beautiful poem that people often read at funerals 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:41.320 called remember Me, And if you listen to the words, 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:46.439 I think you'll agree that it's fitting. To the living, 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:49.559 I am gone, to the sorrowful, I will never return 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.920 to the angry I was cheated, But to the happy 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:55.839 I am at peace, And. 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:56.560 To the faithful. 0:13:56.679 --> 0:14:00.920 I have never left. I cannot speak, but I can listen. 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:03.280 I cannot be seen, but. 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:04.520 I can be heard. 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:07.680 So as you stand upon a shore, gazing at a 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:11.240 beautiful sea, as you look upon a flower and admire 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:17.520 its simplicity, remember me, Remember me in your heart, your thoughts, 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:20.400 and your memories of the times we loved, the times 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:23.760 we cried, the times we fought, the times we laughed. 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:26.680 For if you always think of me, I will never 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:34.400 have gone. That's really pretty. 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:43.160 I think this was very perfect and Elaine would be pleased. Yeah, well, 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:44.440 we didn't do this for Gail. 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:49.360 Well, because we didn't have closure for Gail. No, you know, 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:51.320 and so this is. 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:56.520 Just a double mitzvah. 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:59.880 A mitzvah is a good deed, and we hope that 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.960 this whole series will be a mitzvah, a chance for 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:06.120 us to not only identify this missing woman, but to 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:10.040 honor her, to honor Gail Katz, and in doing so, 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:23.400 to honor all women who are missing or unidentified. I'm 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:26.400 sure this won't be a seamless journey. We're taking a 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:30.880 leap into the unknown here, and anything could happen. But 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:34.080 I can promise you one thing. It's going to be 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:36.880 fueled by a whole lot of love and a bunch of. 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:40.120 Food and good wine. 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:41.680 Which brings me to the next step in our investigation. 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:46.640 We're going back to Elaine's home for food and of 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:50.080 course some wine, but also because she's managed to dig 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:53.000 out a stash of files that may hold the key 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:55.480 to identifying our lost sister. 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:15.840 Be sure, you guys, I'm hungry. 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:22.800 I'm gonna I have food myself into. 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:26.400 A stupid When you arrive in any Jewish mother's house, 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:28.880 she will always have more than you need on the table. 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:32.440 We can't help it, and a lain Cats is no exception. 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:36.760 So yes, I cry. I'll take your many bottles of wine, 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:40.120 your cheese, your chocolates and crackers, even if I'm not 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:43.360 actually hungry, because there's no better way of showing your 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:46.640 love to a Jewish mother than consuming whatever she puts 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:50.800 in front of you. And they're nestled in among the 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:55.040 appetizers is just what we came for. The Holy Grail 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:57.680 a two inch thick folder of documents. 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:00.920 By the way, I am made a second at all 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:05.359 of my documents from the medical Examiner, which are quite extensive. 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:08.439 I believe it's all of Elaine's files from our sister 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:09.359 Gail's case. 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:10.720 You know there's a lot there. 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.119 Look at all these now, yeah, the postillios. 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:17.760 As we start flicking through them, it takes me and 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:20.400 Mindy back to the nineties when a group of us 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:25.160 girlfriends were investigating Gail's disappearance and drinking wine. And now 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:28.679 thirty years on, we're round another table with more wine. 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:32.439 But our club has grown, our sisterhood is stronger. This 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:36.080 time we're joined by Anna Elaine, and we're all here 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.080 to do something momentous in honor of the women who 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:39.879 can't be here. 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:45.080 I need to always feel like I'm doing something in 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:48.760 memory of and in honor of my sister in order 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:55.560 to live with the sadness of all of it. 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:58.200 Does it come in way? Sor said constant? 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:01.240 I had to tell you, it's constant as always. 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:05.800 It's this constant pain that's driving Elane to help us 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:10.520 identify this Jane Doe. After all, her torso spent nearly 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:14.040 a decade in her sister Gail's grave and Elaine doesn't 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:17.520 even know her name. But that's not the only reason 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:20.679 she wants to help. Elaine knows what it's like to 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:22.960 have a loved one disappear and to be left so 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:25.080 long without any answers. 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:30.200 That was something that was really important to me, reuniting 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:36.639 the family with the torso, giving another family closure. 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:43.560 As another glass of wine is poured, we turn our 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:47.840 attention back to the files. We want to find out 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:50.600 how our Jane Doe was ever misidentified as Gail. 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:51.240 In the first place. 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:54.960 In the box of files we find a document that 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:57.840 talks about a number of complaints from the Cat's family 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:02.800 to the Manhattan Medical Examiner. It seems like in nineteen ninety, 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:06.120 the year after the torso was identified as Gail Cats, 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:10.320 that communication had really broken down between the Cat's family 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:14.360 and the office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The family, 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:17.800 who were in deep grief at the time, wanted absolute 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:21.800 proof that the torso belonged to Gail, which meant DNA testing, 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:24.280 and they weren't the only ones with doubts. 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:29.199 The police had them too. 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:32.520 So with growing pressure from all sides, in nineteen ninety, 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:38.920 the medical examiners decided to proceed with DNA testing. They 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:41.960 first asked the Catses if they could exhume the body, 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:45.040 but then they go back on themselves and they say 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:47.800 that actually they may not need to exhume the torso 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:50.200 because they kept some bone fragments. 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:53.240 Without my knowing, they kept a piece of her for 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:57.600 further testing without our permission. I had a little enough 0:19:57.640 --> 0:19:59.440 piece to start with, and you took a piece. You 0:19:59.520 --> 0:19:59.960 kept a peace. 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:06.639 Yes, the DNA testing was inconclusive. The science just wasn't 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:09.800 there yet. We find a handwritten note in the box 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:13.760 of files that says, if DNA cannot be done, we'll 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:18.920 stand by ID. And so that's how our lost sister 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:22.920 continued to be known as gael Cats for eight more years. 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:26.760 So what evidence did they have to make such a 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:31.280 big call will it all seems pretty thin to me. 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:37.439 Both women were light skinned and slim, and each of 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:40.680 them was around thirty years old. They also both had 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:45.040 similar back injuries, which the medical examiner highlighted by comparing 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:47.320 an X ray of the torso with an old X 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:48.080 ray of Gales. 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:52.040 According to the medical examiner, this. 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:54.879 Was the most persuasive piece of evidence they had to 0:20:54.920 --> 0:20:58.720 suggest that this torso belonged to Galecats, But even the 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:02.800 radiologists at the time said that definite idea is not possible, 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:09.160 but that it was probably the same patient. Probably really, 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:13.080 but there's one major fact that they seem to have 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:17.560 totally overlooked in all this. In nineteen eighty nine, Gale 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:21.280 had been presumed dead for four years, yet according to 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:25.120 the Medical Examiner's own autopsy report, the tourists who had 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:29.920 only been in the water for about two to three months. 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:33.880 We could spend a lifetime trying to understand why these 0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:38.520 decisions were made. We already spent the whole first series scratching. 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:40.760 Our heads about it. We'll have to add this. 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:43.600 To our long list of questions for the medical examiner. 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:51.240 But it's getting late, and that's a job for another day. 0:21:52.080 --> 0:21:55.480 In the taxi home, Mindy and Anna are chatting away, 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:58.640 excited to see what more they can learn from the files. 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:01.520 But I just keep hearing that phrase go around in 0:22:01.560 --> 0:22:08.080 my head. Probably the same patient that Probably it didn't 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:11.280 just mess up Gail's case, it also stopped any further 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:16.800 investigation into our lost sister's true identity for years. There 0:22:16.880 --> 0:22:19.520 could be a family out there looking for her and 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:24.320 a killer getting away with it. These mistakes have real 0:22:24.359 --> 0:22:27.960 life consequences, and if you can't rely on the authorities 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:31.639 to get it right, then you should probably. 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:50.600 Do it yourself. 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:56.240 It's the morning after Elaine gave us the files, Anna 0:22:56.320 --> 0:22:59.600 and Mindy are riding on the New York Subway, each 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:03.720 of them nursing a slight red wine hangover. So what 0:23:03.920 --> 0:23:08.560 better time to read an autopsy report. These documents obviously 0:23:08.560 --> 0:23:12.240 don't make for easy reading, not least because doctor Mindy's 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:14.240 getting a taste of her own medicine. 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:20.720 This is not fair making me read another doctor's writing. No. No. 0:23:21.000 --> 0:23:25.280 Eventually, Mindy manages to decipher the reports. They're from June 0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:29.040 nineteen eighty nine, one month after the torso washed up 0:23:29.080 --> 0:23:33.320 on Staten Island and was first investigated by the medical examiners. 0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:41.560 I'm reading that autopsy report. It was pretty futrip, was it. 0:23:41.720 --> 0:23:45.200 Yeah. We're not going to share the more sensitive details 0:23:45.240 --> 0:23:48.679 about her remains, because our girl has already had so 0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:52.679 much taken from her. But there's one important detail we 0:23:52.800 --> 0:23:53.680 can share with you. 0:23:54.960 --> 0:23:55.760 Just a heads up. 0:23:55.920 --> 0:23:58.920 The next section contains some details that might be hard 0:23:58.960 --> 0:23:59.560 to listen to. 0:24:02.000 --> 0:24:03.639 It was clear that both. 0:24:03.359 --> 0:24:07.480 Her limbs and head had been deliberately cut off, meaning 0:24:07.480 --> 0:24:10.520 the end of her life was a violent, horrible act. 0:24:11.200 --> 0:24:14.720 She didn't just fall off some boat into shark infested waters. 0:24:15.480 --> 0:24:16.520 And there's more. 0:24:17.080 --> 0:24:21.159 So we're looking at the toxicology report from the New 0:24:21.240 --> 0:24:23.639 York City Medical Examiner's data. 0:24:23.720 --> 0:24:26.359 It's important to note that her torso has been in 0:24:26.400 --> 0:24:29.720 the water for a while, so not everything will show up, 0:24:30.280 --> 0:24:33.600 but they do detect something something that showed that our 0:24:33.720 --> 0:24:37.480 Jane Doe had recently taken cocaine. But it's New York 0:24:37.800 --> 0:24:40.840 in the eighties, so a bit of cocaine in the system. 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:45.760 Frankly doesn't really narrow down our list of potential victims. 0:24:46.880 --> 0:24:49.120 Our lost sister could still be anyone. 0:24:49.760 --> 0:24:52.200 But if she was killed by someone or she's been 0:24:52.240 --> 0:24:55.600 registered as a missing person, then we might be able 0:24:55.640 --> 0:24:59.120 to find her case online. And if there's one thing 0:24:59.280 --> 0:25:02.840 Mindy's good at, it's going deep into dark corners of 0:25:02.920 --> 0:25:03.359 the web. 0:25:06.200 --> 0:25:12.560 So I go to a site Unsolved the Murders. Oh god, yeah, 0:25:12.600 --> 0:25:15.280 but you didn't give me anything to go on, baby, 0:25:15.400 --> 0:25:15.760 I have. 0:25:16.040 --> 0:25:20.280 Nothing nothing, I've got nothing. Okay, I got bupp Gus. 0:25:21.920 --> 0:25:23.240 I got buff gus here. 0:25:24.119 --> 0:25:29.160 So, unfortunately, there's no huge, flashing website that says Staten 0:25:29.240 --> 0:25:33.240 Island Torso cold case solved. But Mindy's got a hunch 0:25:33.400 --> 0:25:37.040 that a vital clue about our lost sister's identity could 0:25:37.040 --> 0:25:39.720 be sitting somewhere in the archives of the New York 0:25:39.800 --> 0:25:43.119 City Medical Examiners, and I think it's safe to say 0:25:43.320 --> 0:25:44.520 she's been pestering them. 0:25:45.119 --> 0:25:50.520 I have written about eighteen emails to the office of 0:25:50.520 --> 0:25:56.080 the Medical Examiner, and they basically say, unless you're the family, 0:25:56.920 --> 0:26:01.400 you can't really get this information. I said, well, she's 0:26:01.440 --> 0:26:06.879 an identified how could there be any family And I 0:26:06.920 --> 0:26:08.280 don't know that I'm not. 0:26:09.720 --> 0:26:13.399 I don't know that I'm not the family. What is 0:26:13.520 --> 0:26:14.480 family really? 0:26:16.600 --> 0:26:20.359 Because calling this Jane Do our lost sister is no accident. 0:26:21.080 --> 0:26:23.880 We've been thinking about her for a long time. 0:26:24.119 --> 0:26:27.760 And at one point Elaine Kat truly believed she was 0:26:27.840 --> 0:26:28.399 her sister. 0:26:28.920 --> 0:26:32.560 She certainly feels like family to us. I told them. 0:26:32.440 --> 0:26:35.880 About Gail and how he got there, and they said, well, 0:26:36.119 --> 0:26:40.000 do you want to speak with media? And I said no, 0:26:40.280 --> 0:26:43.440 I don't want to speak with media, and you go, well, 0:26:43.480 --> 0:26:47.000 what are you going to do with this information. 0:26:47.240 --> 0:26:50.280 Well, hopefully solve a thirty five year old cold case 0:26:50.480 --> 0:26:53.520