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Speaker 1: The men and women of our organization have pledged to

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Speaker 1: protect and serve with courage, honor, and integrity by fighting crime,

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Speaker 1: maintaining trust, and.

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Speaker 2: Building community partnerships.

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Speaker 1: That is our mission. The man that stands behind those

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Speaker 1: words is Sheriff Michael J.

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Speaker 2: Chitwood.

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Speaker 1: Now, y'all, let me tell you by him. He was

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Speaker 1: born in Philadelphia, and you're gonna hear that accent.

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Speaker 2: Baby.

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Speaker 1: He is a second generation law enforcement officer. He has

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Speaker 1: three daughters and three grandchildren. He has a bachelor's degree

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Speaker 1: in organizational management and a master's degree in criminal justice.

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Speaker 1: He was elected sheriff in twenty sixteen, re elected in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty without opposition. I might add he has worked patrol,

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Speaker 1: Narcotics Detective Division.

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Speaker 2: This man has received fifty eight fifty eight.

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Speaker 1: Commendations for valor, bravery, terrorism.

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Speaker 2: And merit.

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Speaker 1: It is my honor to welcome to his own seven

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Speaker 1: Sheriff Chitwood. Sheriff, thank you so much for being with us.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so much for that incredible introduction. It sounds

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Speaker 3: like my habituity almost. Well.

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Speaker 1: Let me tell you, speaking of your obituary, you had

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Speaker 1: some threats, some significant threats, and you played that thing

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Speaker 1: just like a child out of the city of brotherly love.

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Speaker 1: You came at them and said, Okay, you want to

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Speaker 1: come at me, Come on. You did not back down

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Speaker 1: from a hate group, Sir. In one of the most

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Speaker 1: impressive and unbelievable ways I've ever heard. You just said, hey,

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Speaker 1: here's my address, come if you're ready.

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Speaker 3: That is true. That is true. You know, you know,

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Speaker 3: we had the neo Nazis come to town and really

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Speaker 3: go after our Jewish population, and somebody had to stand up.

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Speaker 3: And that's all they understand. You know. It's like being

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Speaker 3: a kid again in school. If you don't stand up

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Speaker 3: to the bully, you're going to continue to bully you.

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Speaker 3: So you have to stand up and call them out for.

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Speaker 1: What they are, Amen, no question about it. And fighting

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Speaker 1: for people that need your help, and fighting for folks

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Speaker 1: that cannot any longer fight for themselves is something that

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Speaker 1: you put your career own, your entire life, your entire

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Speaker 1: adult life. You have fault for the folks that needed

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Speaker 1: fighting for. And I just appreciate everything that you've been about.

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Speaker 1: And you've got a cold case that is thirty years old,

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Speaker 1: So why don't you tell us about Laura Lee's spear.

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Speaker 3: Night She was born in nineteen seventy eight. Actually her

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Speaker 3: birthday is coming up here next month. She was born

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Speaker 3: in June on June twenty first of nineteen seventy eight,

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Speaker 3: a freshman in the Land High School. A very active,

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Speaker 3: wellliked young lady. She was a cheerleader. She was in

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Speaker 3: her church's youth group. She had the same routine every day.

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Speaker 3: The school bus would drop her off on the corner

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Speaker 3: of her street. She lived on a dirt road. There

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Speaker 3: was only two or three houses on the road. It

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Speaker 3: was a dead end road, and so mom knew every

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Speaker 3: day she was home at the right time. And on

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Speaker 3: April twenty fifth, nineteen ninety four, she gets off the

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Speaker 3: school bus and the school bus driver she usually walking

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Speaker 3: down her lane, and about an hour later, Mom can't

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Speaker 3: find her. You know, she gets off the bus at

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Speaker 3: three fifteen. It's about four to fifteen. Moms in paddock

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Speaker 3: mode because this is something this young lady has never done.

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Speaker 3: She came right home and did her homework. She edifies

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Speaker 3: the sheriff's office. At about an hour later, our helicopter

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Speaker 3: discovers a body lying near an abandoned, burnt home that

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Speaker 3: was on that block. Now this is a very I

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Speaker 3: have to tell you, this is a very good neighborhood.

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Speaker 3: The homes on this deer footpath were very, very pristine homes.

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Speaker 3: There was a home that had burned out years ago

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Speaker 3: that was maybe several hundred yards away from the Spears' home,

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Speaker 3: and that's where the helicopter spots her. And when they

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Speaker 3: get there, she was lying on her side wearing a

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Speaker 3: red T shirt, but she was naked from the waist down.

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Speaker 3: Her hands were bound in front of her with a

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Speaker 3: small brown rope. She was shot in that right hand,

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Speaker 3: in the back of her neck, behind her left ear,

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Speaker 3: and on the left side of her face. There were

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Speaker 3: four shellcasings found of the scene and she had been

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Speaker 3: Later on we discover that she had been sexually assaulted.

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Speaker 3: There were tire impressions. I think it was just north

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Speaker 3: of her body in a figure eight pattern. So there

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Speaker 3: was a bottle of skin lotion, a blue highlighter, a

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Speaker 3: pair of scissors, her backpack, her eyeglasses or underwear, and

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Speaker 3: her blue gene shorts were found a short distance away

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Speaker 3: from her. Again, there was no vehicular traffic that could

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Speaker 3: come down that road. It's a dirt road and it's

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Speaker 3: really hard to turn around. Obviously it was somebody that

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Speaker 3: was familiar with the area and familiar with her. We

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Speaker 3: have done everything humanly possible that you can do with DNA,

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Speaker 3: everything possible. There's a fifty thousand dollar raugh information that

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Speaker 3: leads to the arrest and conviction. We've constantly harped on

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Speaker 3: the media on the anniversary of her disappearance and on

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Speaker 3: her birthday. We try to get the word out there.

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Speaker 3: But again, this is nineteen ninety four. She was brutally

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Speaker 3: murdered and sexually assaulted and somebody needs to be able

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Speaker 3: accountable for this.

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Speaker 1: I cannot agree more. And here's the things that are

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Speaker 1: sticking out for me right now. This person used a vehicle.

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Speaker 1: This person came ready to kidnap, assault and murder. They

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Speaker 1: had something to bind her with, they had a firearm

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Speaker 1: that was loaded and ready that they did use, and

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Speaker 1: they had a location picked out beforehand of where they

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Speaker 1: were going to take her. Now, this burned out house,

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Speaker 1: it was known, wasn't it as a place where people

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Speaker 1: that were younger would go and smoke weed and drink.

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Speaker 3: That is exactly correct. That is exactly everybody get in

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Speaker 3: the neighborhood knew there was a place you could go

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Speaker 3: that was away from the cops and away from your parents,

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Speaker 3: and you could drink, and you could smoke weed, and

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Speaker 3: you could go back there and shoot tin cans if

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Speaker 3: you wanted.

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Speaker 1: And this is one of those classic Florida roads where

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Speaker 1: it's just lined with beautiful trees and thick bushes and flowers.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you.

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Speaker 1: Could have snatched her and pulled her almost anywhere and

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Speaker 1: been unseen.

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Speaker 3: Act. It is a pristine road. It's it's a very

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Speaker 3: rural road. There's a lot of space in between. The

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Speaker 3: homes are extremely well kept. It's off the beaten path, really,

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Speaker 3: is what it is. Now.

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Speaker 1: Her clothes they were found almost like they were thrown

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Speaker 1: from the vehicle.

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Speaker 3: No, they were, they were there was clearly there was

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Speaker 3: clearly a struggle there. She clearly was fighting.

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Speaker 2: Uh.

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Speaker 3: And it was just north of I'm sorry, south of

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Speaker 3: her where she was found. Was heard an eyeline, backpacker glasses,

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Speaker 3: and her underwear so everything. I guess it's safe to

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Speaker 3: assume that somebody approached her and then walked her to

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Speaker 3: where she had to go because she really couldn't drive.

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Speaker 3: There was no vehicular traffic came down that street at all.

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Speaker 2: Okay, you know, well, that's important. That's important.

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Speaker 3: Somebody was lying in wait there and knew where to

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Speaker 3: take her where even if she were to scream, the

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Speaker 3: chances are very unlikely anybody would have heard that because

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Speaker 3: it's about one hundred and fifty to two hundred yards

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Speaker 3: away from her home, and it was heavily it was

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Speaker 3: a heavily wooded area. The only real clearing there is

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Speaker 3: the crime scene is the burnt out shell of the

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Speaker 3: home and kind of you know, kind of the foundation

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Speaker 3: of the home there.

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Speaker 1: And she was found just outside the burned out structure,

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Speaker 1: not inside, that is correct.

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Speaker 3: She was found outside and where other shelcases were, where

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Speaker 3: clothing was, where her backpack was.

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Speaker 1: So this person did not take any time to conceal

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Speaker 1: her at all, not at all. So again your suspect

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Speaker 1: pool is going to shrink again. So you know, automatically,

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Speaker 1: if me and you were just sitting at a bar talking,

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Speaker 1: I would tell you this is a younger person. This

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Speaker 1: is somebody that probably went to that house and partied.

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Speaker 1: Other people know this person was there to party. He

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Speaker 1: probably saw her, knew her, and if he walked there

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Speaker 1: and walked away, then again your suspect pools right, there.

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Speaker 3: Exactly, and you could you don't have to. You could

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Speaker 3: have walked through the woods and a quarter a mile

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Speaker 3: away is another as I was called a thoroughfare. But

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Speaker 3: there's a two lane road that ran by there, so

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Speaker 3: you could easily get in her app on foot on

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Speaker 3: a dirt bike. You know, you could get in and

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Speaker 3: out of there very easily by doing that. You don't

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Speaker 3: have to come down her own road of Dearfoot Road

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Speaker 3: to get there. There was another way or two to

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Speaker 3: get in off of an adjacent two lane highway. Now

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Speaker 3: that highway too lane.

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Speaker 2: Road, you're victim. Laurlee Spear. She was a good kid,

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Speaker 2: I mean, a.

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Speaker 1: Straight a student, a cheerleader, she was in the choir,

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Speaker 1: She was a rule follower, She went.

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Speaker 3: To church, very well loved young lady. Nobody can say

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Speaker 3: a bad word. You know, she wasn't a party girl.

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Speaker 3: She was just a really good, good young lady, like

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Speaker 3: you said, cheerleader, honor student, you know, part of the

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Speaker 3: church youth grew. You know, she had a very small

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Speaker 3: close group of friends that she you know, fre frequented

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Speaker 3: her house or she frequented their house, and obviously you

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Speaker 3: know they would go out and do you know go.

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Speaker 3: They would hike over to that burnt out building because

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Speaker 3: it was a popular place for teenagers and for young adults.

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Speaker 1: And I tell you that Vlusha County Sheriff's department they

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Speaker 1: responded remarkably, well, you're talking about y'all. A lot of

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Speaker 1: times people say, well, maybe she just went to see friends.

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Speaker 1: We'll ride somebody out there, and maybe they're just kind

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Speaker 1: of taking their time, but not this department, Vlusha County.

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Speaker 1: When she didn't make it home by three point thirty,

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Speaker 1: they knew this something's up. So y'all put air one

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Speaker 1: own it.

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Speaker 2: I mean, y'all put your bird up.

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Speaker 1: You had your deputies out there searching, and y'all found her.

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Speaker 1: And you found her so quick. And that's so important

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Speaker 1: because the evidence that was there was not out in

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Speaker 1: the weather long didn't have a chance to have animal activity.

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Speaker 1: So you're talking about by five thirty, y'all had an

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Speaker 1: active crime. Sayne that y'all were processing.

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Speaker 3: When you watch the news clips from nineteen ninety four,

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Speaker 3: obviously I was at pop in Philadelphia back then, and

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Speaker 3: you watch the news clips and you saw the response

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Speaker 3: from the Sheriff's office to see all of those cars,

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Speaker 3: the bloodhounds and Air one was up. You know, there

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Speaker 3: was no doubt that when they got this call, they

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Speaker 3: threw everything they had at it. And you make a

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Speaker 3: great point. You know, she's found probably a little more

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Speaker 3: than an hour after she's murdered, so everything is fresh.

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Speaker 3: Everything that we had was fresh. And you know, teams

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Speaker 3: of detectives over the years from nineteen ninety four, this

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Speaker 3: has been passed off when you know, people retire, it

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Speaker 3: gets handed off to the next generation of detectives. Where

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Speaker 3: it now it's with the current generation of detectives who

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Speaker 3: were you know, we just went to the Viaducts Society

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Speaker 3: up in Philadelphia to sit down with probably forty retired

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Speaker 3: homicide investigators and forensics examiners and psychologists and they and

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Speaker 3: they took the case, we presented it, and they're going

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Speaker 3: to give us a report in about sixty days of

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Speaker 3: what other things are out there that we should consider

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Speaker 3: doing because technology has changed so much. One of the

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Speaker 3: things we're looking at is, you know, to get in

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Speaker 3: the code is or to get into a state or

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Speaker 3: the FBI lab, you have to have such a high

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Speaker 3: degree of evidence. But yet there are universities, one that

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Speaker 3: we use as the University of Texas where we've loaded

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Speaker 3: all of our missing folks DNA in there and they

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Speaker 3: then do the comparisons with bodies found around the country.

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Speaker 3: That's a much lower standard. So we're looking at partnering

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Speaker 3: with a university to see if we can come up

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Speaker 3: with something on that end of it as well.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, brilliant.

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Speaker 1: And you know, and I had a chance to talk

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Speaker 1: to your lead to tech of LeMay, and let me

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Speaker 1: tell you, I was impressed by him, Sheriff, and he

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Speaker 1: is on this thing. And at the end of the

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Speaker 1: conversation I even told him, I said, you know what I.

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Speaker 2: Love about you the most. You ain't tired like he is.

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Speaker 1: Ready if you say, hey, we've got this lead, or

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Speaker 1: this person won't talk to you, or I want you

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Speaker 1: to talk to this expert, he's ready to jump on

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Speaker 1: this thing. And it seems like your whole department is

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Speaker 1: on the same page when it comes to this case.

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Speaker 3: We preach a sense of urgency, whether it's a stolen bicycle,

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Speaker 3: whether it's a homicide that just occurred or a homicide

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Speaker 3: that occurred in nineteen ninety four. Yet it can't be

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Speaker 3: successful if you don't have a sense of urgency. At

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Speaker 3: everything acrosses your desk, and Detective le May, he's having

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Speaker 3: a great He's having a great month, and I hope

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Speaker 3: he continues that. You know, in the month of April,

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Speaker 3: him and his squad brought into cold cases for us.

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Speaker 3: You know, they were twenty twenty three at unsolved homice

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Speaker 3: in twenty two to three and none homicide in twenty twenty

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Speaker 3: two that they continue to work on relentlessly till they

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Speaker 3: finally got the breaks they needed to make the arrest

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Speaker 3: and one the other person's did to win. He's absconded,

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Speaker 3: but you know that murder warrants are out there, you know.

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Speaker 1: And one thing that he did that I thought was

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Speaker 1: brilliant and it's necessary, and it's.

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Speaker 2: Something I teach when I teach at the Academy for

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Speaker 2: cold cases.

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Speaker 1: Go talk to the original detective when you write that report.

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Speaker 1: Every single thing that you think or feel is not

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Speaker 1: in that report. But if you were to come talk

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Speaker 1: to me, then I would tell you, Oh, I always

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Speaker 1: got a weird feeling about this person, or I knew

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Speaker 1: in my gut it was this guy, but I could

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Speaker 1: never prove it. So I thought that was something really

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Speaker 1: good that y'all have said, hey, y'all come because y'all

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Speaker 1: worked this case back in the day and talk to us.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and some of the detectives who worked the original

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Speaker 3: case when they retired, they came back as volunteer cold

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Speaker 3: case squad detectives, so they still kept this and they

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Speaker 3: still worked on it, and they worked on the other

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Speaker 3: cases that weren't solved. And then obviously now they're older,

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Speaker 3: so they have you know, they don't they don't. They

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Speaker 3: just can't do it physically anymore. But they stay in

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Speaker 3: contact all the time, in particular on the anniversary of

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Speaker 3: her death. They're always reaching out and and it's great

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Speaker 3: that they feel that they're part of the Sheriff's office family,

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Speaker 3: that they could just pick up the phone or come

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Speaker 3: in and get a cup of coffee and talk about

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Speaker 3: these cases that weren't solved back then and how they

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Speaker 3: would like to see current DNA and current investigative techniques

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Speaker 3: that weren't available back in the nineties used to bring

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Speaker 3: it to bring closure to this case.

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Speaker 1: And that's so important because you know, you've got a

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Speaker 1: lot of young detectives across this country that if they

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Speaker 1: don't have DNA, they're sort of like, well, we don't

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Speaker 1: know what to do. Well, you're talking about a group

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Speaker 1: of men and women that have solved multiple homicides that

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Speaker 1: never had the opportunity to have DNA. It wasn't invented.

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Speaker 3: Yeah right, you're exactly you're exactly right, You're exactly right.

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Speaker 3: And that's it's just like with the patrol men and women,

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Speaker 3: you know, and that computer goes down in that car,

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Speaker 3: forget about it. They're done, they're done. They don't like

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Speaker 3: to push that patrol car around and self generate activity

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Speaker 3: at me. It said, the computer went that, Oh my god,

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Speaker 3: I got to go home.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And you know something else I've been on a soapbox

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Speaker 1: about lately is I think these young rookies need to

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Speaker 1: learn to read cursive yep, because there are old cases

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Speaker 1: that are handwritten notes and you know, different things in

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Speaker 1: the file.

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Speaker 2: They can't read it.

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Speaker 3: That is a brilliant point. You are exactly exactly right, exactly,

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Speaker 3: you know.

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Speaker 1: And I've even told you know, my chief, I said,

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Speaker 1: you know, we should do en roll call.

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Speaker 2: There ain't but twenty six letters. How long can it take.

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Speaker 1: To show them this is what it looks like. You're

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Speaker 1: talking about law enforcement officers, Sheriff that can't read the constitution.

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Speaker 3: Yep, that's not okay, that's not good at all. You're

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Speaker 3: exactly right.

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Speaker 1: Getting back to Lurley's spear, y'all developed about twenty four suspects.

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Speaker 3: I was told, Yeah, we have had people anonymously give

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Speaker 3: us tips. You know, we've gone back and looked at

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Speaker 3: two was a registered sex offender in the area. You know,

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Speaker 3: people passed away and they tell us it was my brother.

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Speaker 3: So you know, we do get information. We've recently got

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Speaker 3: some information, but we were able to disprove that it

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Speaker 3: wasn't that person involved. But again, somebody, this didn't happen

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Speaker 3: in a vacuum, you know. And I don't think I

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Speaker 3: don't think our killer was alone. I think our killer

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Speaker 3: there may have been one or two others that were present.

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Speaker 3: And then somebody told, right, somebody told something. Nobody does

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Speaker 3: something this horrendous and keeps keeps quiet about it. There's

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Speaker 3: some braggadocio that goes to it, or some hey I

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Speaker 3: know something you don't know, and we just I just

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Speaker 3: can't understand why it's taken so long. We just recently

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Speaker 3: solved a case of a missing woman, a missing fifteen

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Speaker 3: year old whose remains were found underneath of a trailer

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Speaker 3: where this guy had lived at the time, and his

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Speaker 3: wife knew what happened. His wife at the time knew,

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Speaker 3: but she was scared of death of him. And when

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Speaker 3: he died, his wife and her brother said, hey, you'll

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Speaker 3: find amber. She's buried in what it would have been

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Speaker 3: our bedroom at this trailer, at this location. Of course,

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Speaker 3: we go back there now, all these years later, and

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Speaker 3: it was a two thousand and four missing person. Now

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Speaker 3: the place has been completely remodeled. The guy puts a

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Speaker 3: mocro home in there, brand new big cement patio, and

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Speaker 3: we have to knock on his door, sat get a

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Speaker 3: search warm. We're tearing your stuff up, and sure enough

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Speaker 3: we find her remains, completely intact where they told us,

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Speaker 3: but nobody they knew. She's two thousand and four, that

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Speaker 3: that young girl was murdered and buried underneath of the

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Speaker 3: bedroom of that property, and they never ever said a word.

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Speaker 3: He was always suspect, we just couldn't prove it. And

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Speaker 3: then here after he dies, he dies almost almost the

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Speaker 3: same day that she disappeared. He died in twenty twenty two.

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Speaker 1: Good night, Do you're talking about this type of situation.

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Speaker 1: I think that's applicable to law Lee's spear because I

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Speaker 1: think this person obviously went on to commit more crimes.

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Speaker 1: They didn't stop on that day, and there are probably

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Speaker 1: people that are afraid of this person. But I agree

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Speaker 1: with you. They've told somebody if they went to prison

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Speaker 1: for something else, they bragged about it.

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Speaker 2: They want that status. You know, there are people that know,

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Speaker 2: there's no.

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Speaker 1: Doubt about it. Other people that went there to smoke

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Speaker 1: weed and drink. They know who was at that house,

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Speaker 1: they know who was a regular. Give us those five names,

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Speaker 1: eight names, and you're offering fifty thousand dollars.

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Speaker 2: That's life changing.

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Speaker 3: Money, exactly. And that's what that's what my hope in

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Speaker 3: prayer has been since I became the sheriff in twenty sixteen,

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Speaker 3: and I knew this was the number one, our number

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Speaker 3: one cold case. You know, when I came into the

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Speaker 3: ply it spent ten and a half years in Daytona

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Speaker 3: Beaches the Cheap so it's in the same county. So

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Speaker 3: I knew of the case because I knew of the

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Speaker 3: publicity of it. And when I met with the investigators,

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Speaker 3: they're like, this is number one, all right, let's put

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Speaker 3: it a fifty thousand dollars rd out there, and let's

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Speaker 3: keep on pouvling the payment, and sooner or later, heure

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Speaker 3: or later, something's going to break force.

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Speaker 1: Somebody's going to come forward, I'm telling you, because they

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Speaker 1: might have been afraid at fifteen, they ain't afraid at

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Speaker 1: forty five, right, And when they find out there's fifty

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars, they sure lord ain't gonna be afraid.

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Speaker 3: I sure hope not, because I for all we know,

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Speaker 3: the person could be dead, that the person's responsible probably could.

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Speaker 2: Be dead for that matter, or in prison for something else.

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Speaker 1: Exactly because I've never known anybody to rape one time,

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Speaker 1: much less rape and murder one time.

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Speaker 2: It doesn't happen.

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Speaker 3: And that is a great point. You're exactly right. This

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Speaker 3: didn't happen in the vacuum.

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Speaker 2: All right, Sheriff. Tell us your final thought, what can

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Speaker 2: we do to help you?

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Speaker 3: My final thought is I need your help. We need

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Speaker 3: to give Laura Lee, her offspring, and her parents justice.

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Speaker 3: We need to let that young lady know she's not forgotten.

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Speaker 3: Since the day of her brutal murder and sexual assault,

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Speaker 3: scores of detectives at everyone in this community has tried

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Speaker 3: everything they had to bring it a potion or persons

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Speaker 3: responsible to justice.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to end Zone seven the way that I

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Speaker 1: always do with a quote, I am not afraid.

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Speaker 2: I got a gun.

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Speaker 1: I want to shoot back. Let's see how much balls

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Speaker 1: you got and come and get me. Sheriff Michael Chitwood.

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Speaker 1: I'm Cheryl McCollum, and this is Zone seven.

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Speaker 3: The tapan ed as a

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Speaker 1: Par