WEBVTT - Ep. 3 The Investigation 0:00:00.000 --> 0:00:03.440 Amory Monos was last seen on a crisp Ellie winter day, 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.440 a Friday afternoon in January of two thousand and six. 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:16.120 Do you have memories of that day? Yeah, we were 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:18.239 all getting ready for school and myself, my brother, and 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:22.920 my sister, Crystal, her younger sister, was six. They used 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:25.040 to share a room and I used to sleep in 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:28.520 the next room with my mom, and I remember I 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:30.040 woke up and they were yelling at each other, my 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:32.800 brother and my sister, and I was like, what's happening? 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:34.400 You know? Then my mom went over and she was like, 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:38.240 why are you guys fighting? They were fighting because my 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:43.240 brother unplugged her straight inner, plugged in his game boy 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:46.320 and they got in like the biggest fight ever. Crystal 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:49.280 was young, but she remembers the energy of that morning, 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:53.680 of the last day she saw her sister, the kind 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:57.040 of explosive feelings I remember having as a team whenever 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:02.040 anybody moved my stuff. The last memory that Crystal has 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:05.039 of her older sister isn't from that fight that morning. 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:10.360 Later that afternoon, after school, it was right before she 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:12.800 left that day. I looked outside. We had a really 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:15.480 long hallway and at the end of the door we 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:17.240 can see, like that garden that I had told you 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:19.920 about that we had. It was a big, lush garden 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:23.560 filled with flowers on one of the highest hills in 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:27.479 City Terrace. It's where her big sister taught her to dance. 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.160 We had like a wall. I remember she was sitting 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:34.440 on it. She was sitting on it, and she was 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:37.880 wearing a white that white hoodie that she had and 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:41.840 some jeans, and like there's no context behind it, you know. 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:43.400 I just I remember I looked, and I've seen her 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:51.920 sitting on that wall. But I do remember. It's my 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:55.640 aunt next door. She said that she saw her through 0:01:55.680 --> 0:02:00.400 her window. That's Becky, Emory's aunt and godmother her knee. 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:04.120 She says a family member saw Emory that afternoon standing 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:06.840 outside of the house. My aunt said that she saw 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:12.160 Emory inside the fence and this guy outside the fence talking, 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:15.760 and then she said that next time she looked, they 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.520 were gone. She saw Emory talking to a friend. It 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.280 was reported at the time that he was a member 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:27.000 of a male party crew. According to Emory's mother, Emory 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:29.560 left to go to a friend's house and said she 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:33.400 would be back by seven thirty or eight pm. When 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.519 her mom got home from the market, Emory wasn't there. 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:44.360 The next morning, Emory's mom reported her missing. I remember 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:49.760 those copies, the fires. I remember we were walking around 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:53.120 putting them up. Crystal remembers they went looking for Emory 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:57.480 and posting flyers in the area. She remembers walking down 0:02:57.480 --> 0:02:59.880 the street by her house. I remember we put one 0:02:59.880 --> 0:03:03.920 on a red pull and we were just it was 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:05.959 an all night thing, like it was dark. I remember 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:08.720 it being dark. I remember being cold. We were just 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:11.760 going up and down the streets putting them on, and 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:14.440 I think I think it was the next day. I 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:16.160 was calling her cell phone and I remember I was 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:17.640 in her room and I was calling her phone, and 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:22.040 I think I maybe left her about twenty voicemails that day. 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:25.680 Crystal assumed that Emory run away because she was mad 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.360 at their brother John, And I remember I was calling 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:30.400 her and I was like, you could come home now, 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:32.840 John's not mad at you anymore. Can you come home? 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:19.680 From my heart? Michael Duda Podcast Network, Vice and Ellie's Studios, 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:25.839 This is Party Cruz The Untold Story. I'm Jenness Malca. 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:01.520 There are a lot of questions about what happened to 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:05.320 Emory that night. Where she went and why she didn't 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:09.400 come home. Emory Miunius's lifeless body was found nearby this 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:13.080 warehouse on Marosol and Olympic and Boyle Heights, a popular 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.919 area for underground parties. Emory's murder was quickly connected to 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.280 the party crew scene by the LPD and the media. 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:23.960 Her killing, they think she was strangled, now tied to 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.720 the world of illegal underground parties. She went to one 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:30.599 and never came home. Oh, this is exactly the kind 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:33.560 of industrial neighborhood where a rave promoter can find a 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:36.400 warehouse to use for a night. In fact, it was 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:40.040 here on Mirosol, just south of Olympic where a fourteen 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:43.719 year old girl was found dead. Emory's links to the 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:46.680 party crew world was part of why her murder got 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.840 a lot of media attention. Emory reportedly was part of 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:53.040 a crew girls who attended underground parties. The Vicious Ladies 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:55.600 are among the local party crews with their own websites 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:58.919 and party lines. Vicious Ladies was the name of the 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:02.280 party crew belonged to. They think her murder may be 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:06.080 connected to an underground rave party, but what evidence was 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:09.240 there that her murder was tied to party crews and 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:12.920 why is her key still unsolved. I want to understand 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:17.360 what happened with the investigation, what's clear, and what remains 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:22.320 a mystery to this day. A warning that this episode 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:26.159 gets graphic and talks in detail about a violent death. 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:32.679 On Wednesday morning, January twenty fifth, two thousand and six, 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:37.320 and six days after Emory went missing, an employee of 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:39.880 a warehouse in boil Heights who went to go pick 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:44.600 up some lumber found Emory's body. She was less than 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:48.320 five miles away from her home. Becky got the call 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:50.960 with the news when she was at work. I don't 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:55.599 even remember. I just remembered going crazy and staircal and 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:59.160 the customer came and tried to call me down. But 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:02.320 then everybody I'll start coming to my office, and then 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:06.520 my supervisor wouldn't let me drive home about myself and stuff. 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:09.680 So my son came and picked me up, and then 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:16.840 that's when we went over there, and he's crazy. I mean, 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:20.680 it's like you're trying to think that it's a nightmare 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:27.040 that you're having, just can't believe it. That's when the 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:37.120 investigation began. I remember it so vividly because this was 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:38.880 one of the times where you didn't expect to be 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:43.000 called out on a suspicious death, especially involving a child. 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:47.920 This is Carrie Ricard. He's a former LPD homicide detective. 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:52.640 He retired in twenty thirteen after working for LPD for 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:56.960 over thirty five years. He's still volunteers as a reserve officer. 0:07:57.800 --> 0:08:01.440 He started at the Holland Back stationeteen seventy nine. Most 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:04.640 of our homicides here gang related. Majority of them are, 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:07.640 you know, and the victims have either ties to gangs 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:10.680 or you know, maybe even we're looking at as a 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:15.600 suspect and a murder themselves. As a rule, you don't 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:20.160 get many child homicides. I met Carrie at the station 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:25.080 and Boil Heights. Hollenbeck serves the community surrounding Elsarino, Lincoln 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:28.720 Heights and Boil Heights. Carrie wore a striped long sleeve 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:31.960 button up with a blue tie. He rocked a mustache 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.440 and his hair was neatly combed to one side. He 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:38.520 also had a gun on his hip. He may be retired, 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:41.360 but he still looks like an old school TV detective 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:44.959 to me. We met in the afternoon, and by that 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.360 time most of the officers had gone home and in 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.079 two thousand and six. You were one of the detectives. Yes, 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:54.480 I was the original lead detective on the Emory Muno's death. 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:57.079 He was the first detective to be called out to 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:00.800 the scene where she was found. It was midweek is 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:03.400 the Wednesday, to be precise, and I was at my desk. 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:08.880 I had the watch commander called up upstairs and told 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:11.240 me that the body of a young female had been 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:15.000 found in an abandoned warehouse area in our industrial section 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:19.520 of the division. When I got to the scene, you know, 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:21.880 I knew this was a young girl. I put her 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:25.560 at thirteen or fourteen years old. Emory was fourteen, just 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:29.079 a few months shy of fifteen. There was a hole 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:33.680 in the fence that led from where we parked on 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:37.959 the street and walked up the street a little bit 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:40.360 to the hole in the fence, through the hole in 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.840 the fence back into the loading dock. Carrie was joined 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:48.240 by his partner and fellow homicide detective, Joe Braciato. He's 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:51.439 also now retired after over thirty years with the LPD. 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:57.360 And that's where Emory's body was located. In the loading 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:01.480 dock area, Emory's body was lying on the concrete. She 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:05.120 was wearing jeans, white tennis shoes, and a white hoodie. 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:08.960 You just remember, I know she had like was a 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:16.280 Tinkerbell sweatshirt. When the corner investigator got there and one 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:19.840 of the first things we found was a school lunch card, 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:23.440 no picture on it, it had a name on it, 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:25.959 it was It turned out to be her card, and 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:29.439 so they did some background found out she had been 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:31.920 reported missing. She didn't have a cell phone on her 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:35.559 or any type of backpack or purse, so the school 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:40.840 lunch card helped them to identify her. And the clutter 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:43.559 and the loading dock area was a lot of drug 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:48.280 paraphernalia that we're on the ground. I remember the building 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:51.920 had discarded needles and it was a warehouse. The detective 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:54.400 set at the time had been used as a quote 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:58.520 grave site before. Despite all the litter and dust and 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:02.320 dirt around her, her clothes were very clean, even the 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:05.640 bottom of her white tennis shoes, So Carrie thought it 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:08.280 was likely that she didn't die here, that her body 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:12.080 was brought here after her death, maybe even by several people. 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:16.200 The chain link fence nearby had some holes in it 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:19.319 big enough for a person carrying a body, though is 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:27.960 awkward yeah, and you know, one can surmise things from well, 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:30.200 you know, how do you carry a body and get 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:34.520 it through a hole in a fence and not snagged 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:43.960 the clothing on exposed chain link wires or not wrinkle 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:49.480 the clothing unless you've got maybe someone helping you. At first, 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:53.920 the detectives had difficulty understanding what had happened to Emory. 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:57.880 One of the issues I had is we couldn't determine 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.040 what she died from on the scene. It wasn't immediately 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:05.160 clear how she had died at first glance. There was 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:08.560 no gunshot or blood on her body, anything that told 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:11.200 him what had happened to Emory or how long she 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:15.720 had been dead. There were visible marks around Emory's neck, 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:18.720 but it wasn't clear at first if they were the 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:22.240 cause of death or if the marks happened after her death. 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:27.200 And you know, at first I thought, probably would be 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:31.840 an overdose, and but why would why would that be 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:35.720 something that comes to mind? Well, when you have no 0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:39.760 apparent cause of death, you know, when there's there's no 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:43.439 evidence of foul play. I mean, she was impeccably dressed, 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:49.960 her clothes weren't dirty. Kerry thought Emory's death might have 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:52.840 been an accident. We know that back in that era 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:57.120 that nitrous ox side was widely widely being used, and 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:59.920 different ways of using it too, where they could put 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:05.680 a bag over their head elastic band, well they could, 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:09.320 and then so they could better inhale it. I just 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:11.960 want to jump in and say, I've watched friends and 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.600 a lot of different people do not and I've never 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.800 seen or heard of anyone putting a bag over their 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:22.240 head with an elastic band and the balloons people were, Yeah, 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:26.880 there's all sorts of methods. So yeah, Carrie thought maybe 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:29.640 Emory had accidentally taken too much of something with a 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:32.640 friend and they had panicked and left her body there. 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:36.440 If we suspect foul play from the beginning, then we'll 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:38.679 handle it as a homicide, even if we don't call 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:46.560 it a homicide, such as in Emory's case. To better 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:49.439 understand the details of what might have happened to Emory, 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:53.120 we filed a public records request for the autopsy report. 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:57.120 The report was clinical, but there were small details about 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:00.240 how she was found that stuck with me. She had 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:03.240 her jeans bunched up at the bottom with an elastic band. 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:05.240 It was a style thing. When I was in high 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.440 school in the midouts rubber bands around the ankles to 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:13.319 make her pants slimmer, DIY cuffs for jeans. Her fingers 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:16.480 had tandlnes like maybe rings were missing from her hand. 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:19.920 She had on a gold chain with a religious pendant, 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.880 the type of jewelry that's gifted by family, and she 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.640 had a pair of eyebrowt tweezers on her and the 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:29.920 Tinkerbelt key chain on her belt loop that matched her 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:34.040 Tinkerbelt hoodie. It reminded me again that she was fourteen 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:39.920 a teen, a child, and the autopsy would reveal that 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:43.720 she hadn't died from an overdose. It was a homicide. 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:47.040 It was difficult to say how long Emory had been 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:50.280 dead when she was found, but she had been strangled. 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:58.640 Emory has a cause of death that's listed as asphyxia 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:02.560 due to net compression. This is Denise Brutone that I 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:06.480 worked for the Coroner's office investigating pediatric deaths for fifteen years, 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:09.520 and prior to that, I was an emergency room nurse 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:13.720 at Los Angeles County Hospital. She specifically worked on deaths 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:18.280 involving children, which is anyone under fourteen years old. Denise 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:20.640 was the coroner investigator who came to the crime scene 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.800 the day that Emory was found. She's seen over twenty 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:27.520 five hundred cases in her career, but she immediately remembered 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:32.440 this case. These don't happen very often, so when you 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:35.920 called me, I didn't remember the year it happened, but 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:38.560 you called and started talking to me about it, and 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.720 I can still picture the warehouse and I can still 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:45.640 picture her there on the scene. Denise did a cursory 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:49.760 exam on the body and wrote the initial report. Denise 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:52.880 told us it wasn't clear what Emory had been strangled with, 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:55.760 but it was likely with something about the width of 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:58.960 a shoelace at an upward angle. So is it that 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:03.320 the perpetrator, her assailant, was behind her and a little 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:08.120 bit taller than her. That would be a reasonable thing 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:13.400 to conclude. She also has on a gold chain and 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:19.640 that chain is not disturbed, it's not broken. Denise also 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:23.040 pointed out that the autopsy showed no signs of struggle 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:27.720 from Emery, no fingernail marks, no struggling to breathe, no 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:30.440 other wounds that were the signs of a fight. We 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:33.960 have to wonder about her level of consciousness. When this 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:41.920 assailant kills her. As part of her work, Denise in 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:46.200 her colleagues took all evident samples, samples from her fingernails, 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:49.760 stems from her clothing, a hair clipping, and a sexual 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:52.040 assault kit. I don't know if it was ever run. 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:54.760 It would be important to know that it was run, 0:16:55.200 --> 0:17:01.840 and that it's very important that the DNA is tested. 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:04.760 She wonders if any of the samples of DNA from 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:09.440 the crime scene were tested, whether the nail clippings actually 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:14.320 were tested in looking for DNA under her fingernails, and 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:17.960 whether the DNA that was under her fingernails was put 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:21.600 into Codis Codas is a database of DNA that the 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:26.320 FBI maintains if Emery's killer was in the system, it's 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.800 possible that running the samples would help the police identify them. 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.119 There are other marks, Like I mentioned, it looked like 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:35.240 there was a hickey on her chest that would have 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:40.520 saliva that would have DNA. Was that actually ran and tested. 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:46.159 We asked Joe, one of the former detectives, about the 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:49.240 DNA samples that were taken and what had happened with them. 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:56.080 I know she had possible evidence underneath their fingernails. So 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.840 that was one of the requests that I had made 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:04.639 that DNA to be tested, but unfortunately I didn't come 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:08.640 up with a suspect at the time the amount of 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:16.720 DNA that they had, they were unable to identify anyone 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:20.520 with that amount. We reached out to LPD about any 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:24.280 DNA evidence in her case and they wouldn't share anything 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:29.000 about the investigation. But later on a detective supervisor for 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:32.800 the cold case unit told us that any DNA evidence 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:36.840 that was taken had been put into CODIS, the national 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:40.399 database for DNA, but there hadn't yet been a match. 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:47.640 I asked Denise, the corner investigator, what does she think happened? 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:53.160 This is something that we've been just asking everyone who 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:56.520 has touched the case in some way if they personally 0:18:56.520 --> 0:19:00.440 have a theory based on the outopsy or the evidence 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:07.040 to how she might have died. A young teenager is 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:13.440 a vulnerable victim. It just seems that she was incapacitated 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:18.360 in some way when this attack occurs, because she doesn't 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:25.840 have the typical injuries that you would see. All I 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:28.840 need for sure at this point was that Emory, a 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:33.040 fourteen year old girl, was strangled to death, who killed 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:37.920 her and where and why we don't know, but Emory's 0:19:37.920 --> 0:20:03.439 friends and family have theories. That's after the break To 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:08.879 this day, Emory's family is looking for answers. Little is 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:12.000 known about the evening she disappeared, so there are a 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:16.080 lot of theories coming from family, friends, anyone close to 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:19.400 the case, and given how few answers the family has 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:22.480 gotten from the police, I think it's important to look 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:25.960 at these theories to try and understand what was happening 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:30.560 in Emory's world around the time she was killed. The 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:33.600 family members we spoke to didn't really know much about 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:36.840 the party cruisine, but they did know about her circle 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:42.479 of friends, which at times overlapped because many were miners 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:45.119 at the time. We're not using the names of the 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:48.439 people that family and friends have talked about. One of 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:52.880 the theories, and for information that we had at the time, 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:58.280 somebody said that they thought her boyfriend. This is Becky again, 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:02.919 Emory's aunt. She's talking about one of Emery's old boyfriends, 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:06.119 who we're going to call R. A friend said that 0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:08.600 he was in a party care at the time. R 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:11.760 is currently serving an almost thirty five years sentence at 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:15.439 Cincinnella State Prison for attempted second degree murderer with an 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:19.480 enhancement for discharge of a firearm because they saw her 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:22.960 fighting one time with him on the steps of his house, 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:26.760 all outside steps, and that he pushed her. And then 0:21:26.800 --> 0:21:29.119 I verified with my sister and she said, yeah, she 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:31.560 did come home one day with a scrape on her 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:36.080 leg and a bruise on her arm. So then when 0:21:36.160 --> 0:21:39.359 she passed, we were thinking, well, maybe that wasn't the 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:42.200 first time that he did it, and who knows, maybe 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:48.160 by accident it happened that was one of them. The 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:51.640 other one that I think is more believable to me 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:55.399 is those four girls. Another thing that came up was 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:57.560 the possibility that her dad had to do with a 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:01.040 fight with her friends from a previous middle school. Some 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:04.880 of those friends later joined the party. Creusne that at 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:07.560 one time there were her friends and then I don't 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:12.760 know what happened, but the DA didn't like her. I 0:22:12.800 --> 0:22:15.399 don't know why, you know, and I don't know the 0:22:15.440 --> 0:22:21.160 whole story, but they came over and they call her name, 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:25.760 and so my mom came out there and Mary asked 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:28.440 her to go out there. My mom saw a movement 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:32.280 behind a park car, so my mom went out of 0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:35.520 the gate to look and she saw two more girls 0:22:35.600 --> 0:22:39.160 behind this car. Total was four, two of them long 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:43.399 with a back. Her mom ended up transferring Emory to 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:46.679 a different school, But what we heard Becky and others 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:49.840 talk most about was that her dad had something to 0:22:49.880 --> 0:22:52.720 do with her friend's ex boyfriend who were going to 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:57.920 call us that between them there had been some tense moments. 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:01.480 Becky heard a story that Emory had introduced her friend 0:23:01.560 --> 0:23:04.119 to a new guy at a party and the x 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:08.399 S had found out, and he called Emory and told 0:23:08.400 --> 0:23:12.879 her that she had no business battling between them two. 0:23:13.359 --> 0:23:16.199 Emory was going to be sorry that she did this. 0:23:17.280 --> 0:23:20.040 We've tried to get in contact with Emory's friend who 0:23:20.119 --> 0:23:25.040 used to date us. We called, texted, written emails, commented 0:23:25.080 --> 0:23:27.879 on social media posts, reached out to her in various 0:23:27.880 --> 0:23:31.679 ways over the course of months. While we believed she 0:23:31.680 --> 0:23:36.720 saw our messages, she never responded to us. This friend 0:23:36.800 --> 0:23:39.480 was also the person that Emory said she was going 0:23:39.520 --> 0:23:43.159 to visit on the evening she disappeared, and according to 0:23:43.200 --> 0:23:46.000 another friend, she may have been a member of the 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:51.280 Vicious Ladies, Emory's party crew. We've also tried to find 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:55.080 and reach out to s the friend's ex boyfriend, but 0:23:55.200 --> 0:23:58.040 we haven't gotten any responses to our calls and emails, 0:23:59.200 --> 0:24:01.600 and we haven't been able to confirm if he was 0:24:01.640 --> 0:24:06.000 in a party crew. We also emailed Emory's old boyfriend 0:24:06.359 --> 0:24:12.959 are in prison. He did not respond. It's hard to 0:24:13.000 --> 0:24:16.679 hear about all these difficult relationships and Emory's life, and 0:24:16.800 --> 0:24:19.520 while some of the details are scary, none of the 0:24:19.600 --> 0:24:23.480 stories or rumors are by any means evidence of murder. 0:24:28.720 --> 0:24:31.639 One thing that Emory's family and the LAPD agree on 0:24:32.280 --> 0:24:35.640 is that whoever killed Emory was likely someone who knew her. 0:24:36.760 --> 0:24:41.560 This is Carrie Ricard, the former detective again. To meticulously 0:24:42.160 --> 0:24:47.200 take someone somewhere, and it's kind of almost not posing them, 0:24:47.240 --> 0:24:54.040 but to gingerly handle them, meticulously place them, and that's 0:24:54.480 --> 0:24:57.119 kind of like handling them with a degree of respect, 0:24:57.640 --> 0:25:02.000 and a stranger wouldn't do that, but someone with maybe 0:25:02.000 --> 0:25:05.920 some remorse might. According to Kerry, there won't be any 0:25:05.960 --> 0:25:09.320 answers on our case without someone new coming forward with information. 0:25:10.240 --> 0:25:13.320 Witnesses is going to be the primary solution factor in 0:25:13.359 --> 0:25:17.520 this case. This is not a case that's scientifically going 0:25:17.600 --> 0:25:21.680 to be solved without In the absence of witnesses, it's 0:25:21.359 --> 0:25:26.280 not going to happen. I'm curious, what do you want 0:25:26.359 --> 0:25:31.200 people to know about this case. I would like them 0:25:31.200 --> 0:25:35.760 to know that if people think the police don't care, 0:25:35.760 --> 0:25:39.280 they won't care. That's why I mentioned a lot of 0:25:39.320 --> 0:25:43.080 the resources that went into the investigation from the start. 0:25:43.440 --> 0:25:47.159 Kerry says, the entire homicide squad was actually on duty 0:25:47.240 --> 0:25:49.960 that day and so a lot of its colleagues were 0:25:50.000 --> 0:25:52.560 able to go to the crime scene. It's almost unheard of. 0:25:52.560 --> 0:25:55.360 They have five homicide detectives that one homicide scene when 0:25:55.359 --> 0:25:58.240 you're not even sure it's a homicide. You know, it's 0:25:58.280 --> 0:26:00.439 always at the ready for just the right tip to 0:26:00.480 --> 0:26:05.160 come in and your listeners, you know, I would want 0:26:05.200 --> 0:26:08.680 them to know that that just remember the three words 0:26:08.680 --> 0:26:11.520 Central Bureau Homicide. They're the ones that have the case. 0:26:14.160 --> 0:26:18.520 In twenty nineteen, Hollenbeck Community Police Station closed down their 0:26:18.520 --> 0:26:21.840 homicide unit and all of their cases were sent to 0:26:21.880 --> 0:26:26.879 Central Bureau. Central Bureau now handles homicides across a large 0:26:26.960 --> 0:26:31.320 part of eastern Los Angeles like downtown La MacArthur Park, 0:26:31.880 --> 0:26:36.040 Foil Heights, and Eagle Rock. They are the ones that 0:26:36.160 --> 0:26:40.520 now have Emory's case. And because there are a few 0:26:40.600 --> 0:26:43.679 leads on it right now. It's been pulled off the shelf. 0:26:44.800 --> 0:26:48.639 About five months after we started calling LAPD and looking 0:26:48.640 --> 0:26:52.640 into her unsolved case, we found out that Emory's case 0:26:52.840 --> 0:26:56.480 was being worked on again with new detectives, and it 0:26:56.920 --> 0:27:00.560 has a two detectives that actually are a signed it 0:27:00.920 --> 0:27:04.440 and are working on it. But it can easily get 0:27:04.440 --> 0:27:08.880 cold again. The LAPD told us in an email that 0:27:08.920 --> 0:27:11.320 while it is a cold case because of its age, 0:27:11.720 --> 0:27:15.840 it's currently being worked on as fresh. They told us 0:27:16.359 --> 0:27:19.919 this was because there was new information provided, but they 0:27:19.920 --> 0:27:22.359 didn't tell us what the information is, and they told 0:27:22.440 --> 0:27:25.919 us they don't talk to the media during a fresh investigation. 0:27:28.000 --> 0:27:30.640 Carrie was only on the case for about three months 0:27:30.680 --> 0:27:34.600 before his assignment changed, but he says they had already 0:27:34.600 --> 0:27:38.160 done a ton of talking to people. I think before 0:27:38.240 --> 0:27:40.800 I left we were up too close to thirty interviews 0:27:41.520 --> 0:27:44.600 and then and things were just getting started on it. 0:27:44.680 --> 0:27:48.280