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Speaker 1: What you're about to hear is the work of investigative

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Speaker 1: journalism that explores one woman's search for answers in her

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Speaker 1: son's death. The views and opinions in this podcast do

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Speaker 1: not reflect those of I Heart Media previously on Somebody. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so you heard two satisfires on the block. So when

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Speaker 1: I found out what had happened the first day that

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Speaker 1: was reached out to local game bangers, none of them

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Speaker 1: took admitts to it. This whole thing is just get

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Speaker 1: stranger and stranger by the minute. And so I have

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Speaker 1: theories in my head. But somebody covering with Somebody. My

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Speaker 1: name is Chaparral Wells. This is a story of my son, Courtney,

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Speaker 1: a young black man in a fancy car who wound

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Speaker 1: up with a bullet in his back in front of

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Speaker 1: a Chicago police station. And it's the story of my

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Speaker 1: search for the truth. This is somebody everybody, somebodys every day,

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Speaker 1: no bid. So there's this thing that I haven't told

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Speaker 1: you about yet. I didn't even tell Allison in the

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Speaker 1: Invisible Institute for a long time because when it happened,

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Speaker 1: I was told it wasn't important. But it turns out

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Speaker 1: it was. When I first met with police just a

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Speaker 1: few days after Courtney was shot. I told him about

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Speaker 1: a tip I got on Facebook. It was from a

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Speaker 1: guy who went by Randall Connieham like the football player.

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Speaker 1: The note went like this, good morning, I have to stay.

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Speaker 1: I'm very sorry for your loss. I just wanted to

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Speaker 1: see if this info may help you. I was coming

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Speaker 1: home from the gym back. This guy, Randall lived in

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Speaker 1: Belmont Craigen, and the night Courtney died, he saw three

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Speaker 1: guys and the Grand Marquis who tossed a pistol. He

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Speaker 1: called nine one one twice. He sent me photos along

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Speaker 1: with the message, mug shots and a photo of the

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Speaker 1: Grand Marquis that showed his license plate. I thanked him

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Speaker 1: and brought it all to police. They called the police.

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Speaker 1: They told us that they already knew about that, and

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Speaker 1: that it was not related. Research and it's not related,

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Speaker 1: so this was a separate incident. Correct. They said it

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Speaker 1: wasn't connected at all. But I still wanted to give

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Speaker 1: them all the information Randall gave me. Anyway, he gave

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Speaker 1: me names of the two people that that he saw

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Speaker 1: in that vehicle. You um and uh, yeah, that's all correct. Okay,

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Speaker 1: that's all correct. So it's the caller calls in immediately

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Speaker 1: and this is well after your son was was shot.

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Speaker 1: It Detective a Model said Randall's nine on one call

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Speaker 1: was way after Courtney shooting. To me, they were like,

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Speaker 1: you know whatever, lady, we've already decided that this is

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Speaker 1: not credible. We're gonna take your information, but we're not

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Speaker 1: gonna do anything with it. I moved on because I

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Speaker 1: was grieving. I had to finish bearing my son. I

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Speaker 1: was planning Courtney's funeral, and at the time I was

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Speaker 1: still thinking police shot my son, And when detectives dismissed it,

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Speaker 1: I thought, well, maybe they're right. But I later came

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Speaker 1: to find out from those nine one one call logs

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Speaker 1: that Randall's first call wasn't way later than courtney shooting.

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Speaker 1: It was thirty seven minutes after Courtney was shot. So

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Speaker 1: when the first nine one one callers husband Edgar saw

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Speaker 1: some gangsters in his alley and a Grand Markeys, it

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Speaker 1: reminded me of Randall's tip. Allison and I we went

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Speaker 1: back and looked at the picture of the car Randall

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Speaker 1: sent me on Facebook two years earlier, and there was

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Speaker 1: a Grand Marquis and the license plate started with Z

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Speaker 1: four four. Edgar had remembered the first two digits, and

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Speaker 1: when I went back to the police report about Elena,

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Speaker 1: it said that she saw a license plate starting with

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Speaker 1: C four four, C and Z. You know, they sound

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Speaker 1: a lot of like So the witness accounts matched up

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Speaker 1: in the police never connected the dots. We needed to

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Speaker 1: talk to this Facebook tipster, Randall Cunningham, face to face

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Speaker 1: to find out who he really was and see what

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Speaker 1: else he knew about what happened that night, any details

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Speaker 1: that could help us. My name is Allison. I got

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Speaker 1: your number from chapperl Wells, the mother of Courtney. We

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Speaker 1: texted and went to an address we found for him.

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Speaker 1: No one was home, so we left a note. That night,

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Speaker 1: we got a call back from Randall's uncle, who had

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Speaker 1: found the note. He put us in touch with Randall,

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Speaker 1: so we made plans to meet Randall said we could

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Speaker 1: catch him after a showing of Black Panther. Bill and

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Speaker 1: I waited for Randall in the food court of a

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Speaker 1: suburban Chicago mall over pretzels and smoothies. Black Panther is

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Speaker 1: a long movie. Finally he came out. Did your uncle

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Speaker 1: tell you we tried to reach you? At his and

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Speaker 1: then I was like, why are Why are the FEDS

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Speaker 1: at the door. So I kind of thought that you

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Speaker 1: guys were Feds. I'm like, what's going on here? But

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Speaker 1: he told me it was related to the case, and

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Speaker 1: I'm like wow. He told us that even though he

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Speaker 1: called nine one one twice, he still wanted to reach

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Speaker 1: out to Chapparral directly. So, um, Mr Copeland's mother on

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Speaker 1: the news, and I felt terrible, you know, and I figured, well,

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Speaker 1: why if you know, if there's this type of information out,

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Speaker 1: why wouldn't I want to try to reach out. We

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Speaker 1: asked him to walk us through what he saw when

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Speaker 1: he was driving home that night. From the beginning, I

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Speaker 1: was coming home from an export, Jim. It was pretty

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Speaker 1: late at night. Um, As I was coming home, I

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Speaker 1: noticed individuals in the street and I almost hit him.

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Speaker 1: So I kind of looked at him and I could

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Speaker 1: tell he was gang affiliated colors and his hat was

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Speaker 1: cocked and he kind of threw a sign at me,

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Speaker 1: and I'm like, well whatever. The guy who threw the

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Speaker 1: gang sign looked like he'd been running, like something had happened.

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Speaker 1: Randall went to turn onto his street when he noticed

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Speaker 1: a car just sitting there a Grand Marquis. Short time later,

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Speaker 1: the car starts moving. Randall parked and ran to his apartment.

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Speaker 1: He looked out a window and saw that the Grand

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Speaker 1: Marquis had driven up the block, then backed up, and

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Speaker 1: then up the block again, and then reversed and lit

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Speaker 1: it again like they were I don't know what was

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Speaker 1: going on, if they were intoxicated or whatever. Randall called

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Speaker 1: the cops were on their way. Then he saw a

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Speaker 1: guy get out of the car. It was the same

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Speaker 1: one who had just thrown gang signs at him, and

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Speaker 1: two more guys got out of the car. They quickly

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Speaker 1: they tossed a weapon and scurried away. So Randall called

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Speaker 1: nine one one again. You probably wouldn't put two and

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Speaker 1: two together, um, and they quickly ditched the pistol. I

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Speaker 1: heard like a loud thud, you can hear like a

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Speaker 1: metal clink, sound like get thrown to the ground. Uh,

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Speaker 1: So I actually went out to try to recover it.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know if the hell came over me. I'm

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Speaker 1: a concealed carry holder, so I figured, well, let me

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Speaker 1: go see what this is. And there's kids on the neighborhood,

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Speaker 1: so you know, I didn't want to. I didn't want

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Speaker 1: a kid to find it. But before Randall could get there,

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Speaker 1: one of the guys came back to retrieve what they threw,

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Speaker 1: and I know it was a pistol because the way

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Speaker 1: they were holding it it was shiny. And uh, I

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Speaker 1: told the cops, hey, this was the description of the individuals,

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Speaker 1: which direction they fled and which way they went and whatnot.

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Speaker 1: The cops went up the block to get the guys.

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Speaker 1: The gun was gone, but Randall did find an iPhone.

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Speaker 1: I actually went through it and uh there's a couple

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Speaker 1: of videos of them drinking in a car um and

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Speaker 1: then there was a video of them flashing a revolver.

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Speaker 1: One was a revolver, the other gun was like a

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Speaker 1: nine millimeter. Randall offered to give the phone to police.

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Speaker 1: They contacted me and they told me, hey, you know

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Speaker 1: what's going on, and they were kind of brief about

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Speaker 1: what they you know, what they wanted, and then they

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Speaker 1: hung up and then they called back again and I'm like, yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: do you want me to come to the station or not?

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Speaker 1: And they were like, well no at this time no.

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Speaker 1: Uh So that was that and the police never followed up,

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Speaker 1: and then Randall lost the iPhone in a move. We

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Speaker 1: asked him about those mug shots from his Facebook message.

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Speaker 1: How did he know who these guys were? Somebody that

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Speaker 1: I knew in the neighborhood. Um, I knew one of

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Speaker 1: the individuals in the car. So yeah, I kind of asked, well,

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Speaker 1: what had happened? And they said they were questioned and

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Speaker 1: then they were they were pretty much released. They never

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Speaker 1: he said, he doesn't know the guys personally, but he

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Speaker 1: does know of them. I'm not getting affiliated and never

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Speaker 1: believed in gangs or none of that, but I did

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Speaker 1: believe in, you know, getting crimes figured out and solved

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Speaker 1: and you know, making sure justice has served. So, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, there's one more thing you need to know

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Speaker 1: about Randall. He's a Chicago police officer. Who oh, Allison,

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Speaker 1: when you told me that Randall was a cop, I

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Speaker 1: was shocked, but you know, I was grateful more than anything,

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Speaker 1: because this information was vital. Didn't make sense once he

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Speaker 1: found out he was a cop. I thought that, well,

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Speaker 1: if he wasn't a cop, he was definitely trying to

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Speaker 1: be one because he knew exactly what the words to

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Speaker 1: say and and he knew what to give me. So

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Speaker 1: the night Courtney died when Randall called this end to nine.

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Speaker 1: When one he was still a civilian. He was just

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Speaker 1: a guy in the neighborhood reporting what he saw. But

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Speaker 1: now he's been a cop for more than two years,

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Speaker 1: so we were a little surprised that he was still

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Speaker 1: willing to talk to us. I mean, I was just

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Speaker 1: so grateful for anybody to give me information. The fact

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Speaker 1: that he was a cop. It made me have some

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Speaker 1: type of hope that all cops aren't bad. You know.

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Speaker 1: I wish there were more Randalls on the Chicago Police force.

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Speaker 1: I mean, what if he had never come forward. Without

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Speaker 1: him coming forward, we wouldn't be able to connect the

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Speaker 1: dots corroborate what Edgar and Elena said about the car

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Speaker 1: and the guys inside it. But the frustrating part is

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Speaker 1: it has taken us over two years to get here.

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Speaker 1: All of this should have been known on day one,

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Speaker 1: and it turns out it was all right there on

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Speaker 1: the police radio the whole time point because we're sitting

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Speaker 1: in the silver Grand Murkey has gone under the car.

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Speaker 1: When we asked the city for all the police dispatch

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Speaker 1: in Courtney's case, we got about an hour of tape

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Speaker 1: back the first twenty five minutes had Courtney flagging down

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Speaker 1: Officer block for help, his license plates, his name male,

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Speaker 1: his name is Chicole, and Elena calling in. Once you

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Speaker 1: get a shot started Fullerton along Long and Fullerton Color

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Speaker 1: heard two shots on the block. I got no description.

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Speaker 1: But then later in the radio tape there's this for

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Speaker 1: thirty five minutes. When we asked why this was believed out,

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Speaker 1: the city told us again that it was unrelated. We

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Speaker 1: pushed back and had to wait months to get the

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Speaker 1: full tape, and when you listen to it, come find

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Speaker 1: out it's completely related. A mercury tinted windows, reoccupants circling

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Speaker 1: a black twice and then reversed. It may have a

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Speaker 1: flat tire, it's double part by the fire. Hydrants demand

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Speaker 1: black bread jacket on the corner, flashing gang signs. So

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Speaker 1: once again it's up to us to investigate. We really

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Speaker 1: wanted to know more about these gangsters Randall saw did

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Speaker 1: in this gun. Two of the men actually were arrested

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Speaker 1: up the block the night my son was killed. Point

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Speaker 1: backcoties were sitting in the silver ground Murkey because he

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Speaker 1: drove Vine and appeared to based to a gun under

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Speaker 1: the curve. They have since recovered or whatever was thrown

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Speaker 1: under there, and they're walking north round. The dispatcher's relaying

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Speaker 1: Randall's nine one one call to the police. She says,

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Speaker 1: two male Hispanics wearing black hoodies were sitting in a

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Speaker 1: granmar key. It appears they threw a gun of the car,

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Speaker 1: which they've since recovered, and they're walking northbound. That's too possible,

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Speaker 1: fucking westbound on Belton, And then the officer says, got

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Speaker 1: two possibles walking westbound on Belding toward Larmie. The police

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Speaker 1: arrested two men who were charged with a parole violation

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Speaker 1: for associating with game member, which basically me they were

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Speaker 1: just hanging out with each other. They were released the

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Speaker 1: same day, and the third guy commands blackbread Jacket in

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Speaker 1: the corner, flashing signs he got away. We decided not

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Speaker 1: to reveal their names because no one has been charged

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Speaker 1: in connection with Courtney's case, and we don't know who,

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Speaker 1: if any of these guys shot Courtney. What we do

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Speaker 1: know is that the police should have followed these leads.

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Speaker 1: But when we dug around, we found out that all

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Speaker 1: three men Randall saw that night are members of the

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Speaker 1: Stylers gang. All of them have been convicted of gun

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Speaker 1: offenses and all have done time. They all have really

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Speaker 1: long rap sheets. But this is the Facebook video of

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Speaker 1: one of the men who was arrested that night. So

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Speaker 1: love it's not at the time of Courtney's death, he

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Speaker 1: was on parole for armed robbery sinsons. And the man

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Speaker 1: that Randall saw a flashing gang size, he's the one

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Speaker 1: that got away. He's been arrested sixteen times since. Randle

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Speaker 1: and Edgar identified the same type of car, but we

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Speaker 1: wanted to see if they'd identify the same men inside

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Speaker 1: the car too, So we decided to do something the

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Speaker 1: police had never done, a double blind photo lineup. We

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Speaker 1: put together a big stack of mug shots to show Edgar.

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Speaker 1: We included the mug shots randallson to Chaparl and men

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Speaker 1: who look similar to them, plus some random mug shots too,

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Speaker 1: And because Edgar remembered someone in the vehicle with long hair,

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Speaker 1: we included almost neighbor and other men with long hair.

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Speaker 1: By Elena, Hi, are you right baby? Back here? I

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Speaker 1: went over to Elena and Edgar's again, Chapel stayed back.

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Speaker 1: We didn't want Edgar to feel any extra pressure to

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Speaker 1: make an identification. And thank you. I want sorry. We

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Speaker 1: got set up in their living room. If it's you know,

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Speaker 1: very unlikely that you'll be able to identify anyone, so

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Speaker 1: there's absolutely no pressure to do it. Just if I

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Speaker 1: brought along one of our summer reporting fellows, Matilda. The

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Speaker 1: lineup was double blind because neither Edgar nor Matilda knew

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Speaker 1: who was who in the mug shots. We didn't want

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Speaker 1: to influence Edgar to pick out certain people. Elena stuck

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Speaker 1: around to translate, Okay, gonna send alright, so I'll have

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Speaker 1: you both look at them, and Matilda is gonna go through.

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Speaker 1: I left the room and they went through the photos

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Speaker 1: one by one. Who Edgar said, this one looks like

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Speaker 1: him a little bit. Maybe it looks like yeah, bit

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Speaker 1: at the photo after photo, No, he said no, He

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Speaker 1: said no. Then he turned to the next photo, and

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Speaker 1: right away he stopped, well, he thinks that one it

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Speaker 1: is because long hair. He landed on the guy with

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Speaker 1: the long hair, almost neighbor who lived by the church.

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Speaker 1: That one I think is one of them. Edgar picked

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Speaker 1: out two other mug shots. He was less sure about these,

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Speaker 1: but one of them was one of the guys arrested

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Speaker 1: that night. Up the block from rand Okay, that's all

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Speaker 1: we had. Thank you very much. Just keeps going and going.

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Speaker 1: You know, we're just trying to help the families by answers.

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Speaker 1: So Randall and Edgar's accounts we're matching up more and more. Okay,

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Speaker 1: thank you, take care of h We felt like we

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Speaker 1: were getting close to finding out who shot my son,

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Speaker 1: so we reached out to Courtney's friend June again because

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Speaker 1: we wanted to see if he can talk to some

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Speaker 1: of his gang contexts. We were trying to figure out

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Speaker 1: if June knew any of the guys and the mug shots.

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Speaker 1: When June asked around for us, he told us it

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Speaker 1: was like opening Pandora's box. One day, two gang chiefs

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Speaker 1: showed up at his door. They said, you've been asking

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Speaker 1: a lot of questions. After that, June changed his number

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Speaker 1: and moved. When we caught up with him again months later,

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Speaker 1: he said he didn't want to have an ear to

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Speaker 1: the streets anymore. He wanted to have an ear to

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Speaker 1: the stock market because he was all about his cigar business.

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Speaker 1: He was done dealing information with June out of the picture.

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Speaker 1: We chased a differently the car we wanted to track

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Speaker 1: down that Grand Marquis, but it wasn't registered to anyone anymore.

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Speaker 1: We did find out who owned the Grand Marquis when

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Speaker 1: Courtney was killed. Her first name was Crystal. We didn't

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Speaker 1: know anything about her except for her address. So we

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Speaker 1: hit the road, so that's it's not that far. No,

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Speaker 1: she's pretty close, but within a mile on the way.

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Speaker 1: We talked about Courtney, like we always do. He always

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Speaker 1: said he was gonna be famous. I don't think this

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Speaker 1: is what he wanted to be famous for, but he

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Speaker 1: had this this ominous feeling that that he was going

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Speaker 1: to die young. You know. I think he had some

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Speaker 1: fears anxiety because his father and his grandfather also died

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Speaker 1: of heart issues. We're going where so just take a

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Speaker 1: little further anyway. The last anxiety attack he had was

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Speaker 1: probably about six weeks before he died, and He's like,

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Speaker 1: I think I'm having a heart attack. And I'm like, Courdney,

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Speaker 1: you're not having a heart attack. If you're having a

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Speaker 1: heart attack, you wouldn't be able to sit here and

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Speaker 1: tell me to take you to the doctor. So he

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Speaker 1: was like, I just keep seeing myself dying because I

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Speaker 1: knew it. I knew what it was. I knew he

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Speaker 1: was having a panic attack. I told him, you do

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Speaker 1: what I told you to do, which is pray. We're

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Speaker 1: all here on borrow time. Cordney, you know, not thinking

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Speaker 1: in six weeks my son will be dead. That was

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Speaker 1: the last serious, serious conversation that I had with Coordiney

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Speaker 1: before he died. Crystal Street was lined with matching brick

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Speaker 1: two flags. We didn't want to freak her out, so

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Speaker 1: we left the recorder behind. We walked up to her

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Speaker 1: building and rang the doorbell for her apartment. We waited.

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Speaker 1: We were about to walk away when a woman came out.

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Speaker 1: It was Crystal. We showed her a picture of the

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Speaker 1: Grammar key. She said, yes, that used to be her car.

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Speaker 1: We told her about Courtney's murder and that witnesses pointed

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Speaker 1: to this car. She said she got rid of that

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Speaker 1: car before on Craigslist. We showed her the mug shots

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Speaker 1: of the guys. She says she didn't know any of them.

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Speaker 1: We were bummed. We had hoped she could tell us more.

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Speaker 1: We thanked her and got back into the van. Well,

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Speaker 1: I definitely think she's lying. I think she does no

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Speaker 1: more than what she's saying, and um she wants to

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Speaker 1: make sure that it's not traceable back to her. I

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Speaker 1: think when you showed at the pictures that really threw her.

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Speaker 1: What do you think, Elsa, I don't know. She seemed

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Speaker 1: genuinely caught off guard and surprised, you know, But I

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Speaker 1: don't know. Chaparral was right, Crystal was lying to us.

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Speaker 1: A few weeks later, we were digging around in some

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Speaker 1: court documents and we saw Crystal was listed as the

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Speaker 1: girlfriend of the guy who got away from the cops

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00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:51,000
Speaker 1: that night. They even have kids together. We found some

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Speaker 1: photos of him on Facebook. One of the pictures shows

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00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:55,600
Speaker 1: him at a grave site with one of the two

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Speaker 1: stylers arrested the night Courtney died. Now we had evidence

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00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:06,720
Speaker 1: connecting them to each other and the car. We hadn't

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00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:10,479
Speaker 1: heard from Randall in a while until one morning, November one,

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00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:15,320
Speaker 1: he texted me, did you hear what happened on Long

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Speaker 1: and Belding. Female executed in front of her kids and

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Speaker 1: friend over a car be safe in that neighborhood. My

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00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:28,359
Speaker 1: stomach dropped. It was the same corner where Courtney was shot,

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00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:34,000
Speaker 1: and the car was a BMW. It was all over

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00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:38,119
Speaker 1: the news. This is just absolutely heartbreaking. The victims family

347
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,520
Speaker 1: says she was out celebrating Halloween and was tricker treating

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Speaker 1: with her twin sister and two nieces when a masked

349
00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:47,600
Speaker 1: man jumped into their car and forced them to drive.

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Speaker 1: Police want to find out why a young woman was

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Speaker 1: murdered by a masked man who forced his way into

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Speaker 1: the car. We win live at District Police Station in Belmont,

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Speaker 1: Craigan with more. The gunman made them drive several blocks

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00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:05,800
Speaker 1: before he shot and killed one of the women on

355
00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:08,440
Speaker 1: the same street where the gangsters and the grandmar key

356
00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:12,120
Speaker 1: tossed the gun. The gunman took off running to black

357
00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:19,720
Speaker 1: Hawk Park, Styler's territory. Okay, are you there, ye, come here.

358
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:22,399
Speaker 1: I got on the phone with Chaparral right away. Have

359
00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:25,680
Speaker 1: you seen the news today? Yeah? You know that that

360
00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:29,800
Speaker 1: shooting right back Courtney, right yeah, exactly right by Courtney.

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Speaker 1: It was Belden and long right past the church. I'm

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00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:37,480
Speaker 1: looking at the law some like, oh my god, yeah,

363
00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:40,240
Speaker 1: this is like, why is here? I told her it

364
00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:43,000
Speaker 1: was a BMW two. Are you serious? This is like,

365
00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:46,959
Speaker 1: just sent my PTSD right off stood way open now.

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry. We discussed whether we should go to the

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00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:53,399
Speaker 1: police with what we knew that they don't have that

368
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,239
Speaker 1: information about Elsa. I know they have it, but they

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00:24:56,280 --> 00:25:00,320
Speaker 1: don't they don't understand its significant. But I just it

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00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:02,680
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like they did the kind of detective work

371
00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:06,199
Speaker 1: at Ethan because I'm thinking, like, if if you know,

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Speaker 1: I know my son was gone, but if other girl

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Speaker 1: have to die, you know what I'm saying. It's always

374
00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:19,399
Speaker 1: been about preventing things from happening to other people. For me,

375
00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:23,560
Speaker 1: if this is the same person, I'm hoping that they

376
00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:28,240
Speaker 1: were actually follow up. In the end, we decided we

377
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:31,240
Speaker 1: had a responsibility to come forward if there was any

378
00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:34,120
Speaker 1: chance our findings could help them solve this woman's murder.

379
00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:36,359
Speaker 1: I really didn't want to meet with those jokers again,

380
00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:40,399
Speaker 1: but I sucked it up. Maybe this time if I

381
00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:44,040
Speaker 1: came in with two white journalists, they'd actually listen to me.

382
00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:49,840
Speaker 1: That was the detective model. So we called us that

383
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,120
Speaker 1: something up. Lichal and one of the supervisors from here

384
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:57,600
Speaker 1: will be contacted. A few days later, me Alison and

385
00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:00,359
Speaker 1: Bill were sitting down with Sergeant Mitchell and the detective

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Speaker 1: A Model. They agreed to meet us only if I

387
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:07,879
Speaker 1: didn't record, but the meeting was on the record. What

388
00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:10,560
Speaker 1: did you think about the police, stipulating that you couldn't record,

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00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:15,200
Speaker 1: and I wish we would have recorded. I do. I

390
00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:24,200
Speaker 1: promise you I wanted to, I really did. We met

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00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:27,280
Speaker 1: for about two hours in the same conference room as before,

392
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:32,240
Speaker 1: but no one walked out on me this time. Sergeant Mitchell.

393
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,040
Speaker 1: He wore a tie and was red faced, as ever.

394
00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:39,200
Speaker 1: Detective a Model wore a pull over. He barely took

395
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:43,639
Speaker 1: any notes. Here's what happened. We brought in two huge

396
00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:46,800
Speaker 1: binders of documents and we told police what we knew.

397
00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:51,280
Speaker 1: So we walked them through our evidence. Allison started by

398
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:54,880
Speaker 1: showing them a map. We highlighted the corner of Belding

399
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:57,320
Speaker 1: and Long by the church where the neighbors heard the

400
00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:00,560
Speaker 1: shots that night. We told him we believe this is

401
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:04,240
Speaker 1: where Courtney was shot because his friends from broken Glass

402
00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:08,040
Speaker 1: on the street and others. They saw skid marks, and

403
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:12,159
Speaker 1: is where Courtney usually parked because he'd received tickets there before.

404
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:16,560
Speaker 1: At this point they said we weren't telling them anything

405
00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:20,520
Speaker 1: they didn't already know, but we kept laying out the

406
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:25,040
Speaker 1: scene for them. Anyway. We explained that right before the incident,

407
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:27,959
Speaker 1: we believe Courtney was parking his car. He was on

408
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:32,480
Speaker 1: his phone, texting Alma, Facebook messaging his friend. He was distracted.

409
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:38,000
Speaker 1: That's when someone shot him. Courtney turned and ducked, getting

410
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:41,960
Speaker 1: hit in the back. When Courtney sped off towards the

411
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:45,440
Speaker 1: police station, a Grand Marquis quickly drove around the block,

412
00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:49,160
Speaker 1: cutting through Elena and Edgar's narrow alleyway with the windows

413
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:53,880
Speaker 1: rolled down, giving Edgar a good look. Two years later,

414
00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,880
Speaker 1: Edgar still remembered the car and the first few digits

415
00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:02,679
Speaker 1: of the license plate. At this point, we showed police

416
00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 1: the two mugshots Edgar picked out in the double blind

417
00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:08,679
Speaker 1: lineup the man with the long hair on his neighbor

418
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:12,240
Speaker 1: and a second guy, a member of the Stylers gang

419
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:16,359
Speaker 1: who was arrested that night. And that's when the detectives

420
00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:19,040
Speaker 1: said to each other that they needed to talk to Edgar.

421
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:26,800
Speaker 1: Then we kept going with the play by play. Right

422
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:30,119
Speaker 1: after my son arrived at the hospital, Randall spotted the

423
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:35,240
Speaker 1: Grand Marquis on his block and called. When the guys

424
00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,560
Speaker 1: heard the police coming, they tossed the gun under the

425
00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:43,440
Speaker 1: car nearby and took off on foot. But before police

426
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:48,080
Speaker 1: could retrieve the gun, someone came back for it. Two

427
00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:50,680
Speaker 1: of the guys were arrested. Up the block in release

428
00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:55,680
Speaker 1: without questioning. The third one got away. We gave police

429
00:28:55,720 --> 00:29:00,000
Speaker 1: his name, We gave them a copy of Randall's Facebook

430
00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:03,840
Speaker 1: such about the Grand Markets license plate, the weapon, the

431
00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 1: mug shots. That's when one of the detectives said, you

432
00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:12,080
Speaker 1: never told me this, but I did remember. I even

433
00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:16,280
Speaker 1: have it on tape. I also have some information that

434
00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 1: I received from another Facebook person. Randomly. They told me

435
00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:27,160
Speaker 1: that the night of U the shooting, there was a

436
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:34,080
Speaker 1: Okay car, it looks like a Grand Market. I have

437
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:37,240
Speaker 1: that plate number like plenty to number. They said that

438
00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:40,400
Speaker 1: they were looking out their window and they saw them

439
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:44,760
Speaker 1: throw a gun under the truck. Under the truck, they

440
00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:54,480
Speaker 1: called the police. Okay. None of us were surprised about

441
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:58,360
Speaker 1: how detectives acted during this meeting. Detective A Model said

442
00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:00,640
Speaker 1: he's seen the video of Courtney outside of the station.

443
00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:04,360
Speaker 1: That much I already knew, But what surprised me was

444
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,840
Speaker 1: he said he didn't think Courtney was being combative. I

445
00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:10,320
Speaker 1: didn't know what to make of this. No one had

446
00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:13,840
Speaker 1: their story straight. Was this a cover up? Or are

447
00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:17,680
Speaker 1: they just this damn incompetent. At the end of our meeting,

448
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:20,720
Speaker 1: they told us they were going to assign new detectives

449
00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:26,600
Speaker 1: to the case and work these new leagues. We all

450
00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:29,040
Speaker 1: hopped in Bill's car in the parking lot to regroup

451
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:35,120
Speaker 1: to bite my tongue. So many times I felt that

452
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:38,000
Speaker 1: they were a little bit evasive when they talked about

453
00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:41,760
Speaker 1: the two being arrested that night and why they couldn't

454
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:45,320
Speaker 1: it was a murder. Why wouldn't you want to investigate them?

455
00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:47,960
Speaker 1: They are known game members there, They have a long

456
00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:50,680
Speaker 1: rap sheet, So tell me why you couldn't pull them

457
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:52,960
Speaker 1: in for a question and for this murder. Why why

458
00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:55,000
Speaker 1: wouldn't you do that? That didn't makes sense to me

459
00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:58,720
Speaker 1: because they're already arrested. And then you also had that

460
00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:00,560
Speaker 1: nine one one caller who was give me you a

461
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:06,040
Speaker 1: description of suspects that he's seen in the neighborhood who

462
00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:09,520
Speaker 1: threw a gun underneath a car. So this is when

463
00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:12,400
Speaker 1: they talk about we don't have enough evidence, we don't

464
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,960
Speaker 1: have enough probable calls to pull them over. Hell, you

465
00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:18,960
Speaker 1: get pulled over before busting light in Chicago and they

466
00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:21,920
Speaker 1: question you, They take you off your car, they handcuff you,

467
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,360
Speaker 1: they do all types of stuff. So you're telling me

468
00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:28,080
Speaker 1: that you don't have enough evidence or enough probable calls

469
00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:31,440
Speaker 1: that's bullshit. And I wanted to reiterate to them that

470
00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:35,880
Speaker 1: you know, in so far as they were frequently saying

471
00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:41,080
Speaker 1: that these are leads, not evidence. This is circumstantial, and

472
00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:44,200
Speaker 1: it's sort of like, yeah, I know, I am coming

473
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:48,000
Speaker 1: to you because another woman was killed in a BMW

474
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:50,880
Speaker 1: on that corner. Like I'm not saying that this is

475
00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:54,640
Speaker 1: solid evidence ready to go to court. I am saying

476
00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:56,560
Speaker 1: that this is what I know about the case, and

477
00:31:56,560 --> 00:32:03,200
Speaker 1: it's more than what you know about the case. Bill

478
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:07,080
Speaker 1: noticed something during the meeting. I had turned my face

479
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:10,040
Speaker 1: away because I was crying, and I didn't want the

480
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:15,920
Speaker 1: detective to see where you're crying out of frustration. I

481
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:19,440
Speaker 1: was crying because my son is still dead. At the

482
00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:23,239
Speaker 1: end of the day, my son dead. So it's just

483
00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:26,560
Speaker 1: like I must have been. I'm finna get emotional now,

484
00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:30,680
Speaker 1: so forgive me, you know, because I'm like, you know,

485
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:34,320
Speaker 1: every time I get closer, I get a step back.

486
00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:38,000
Speaker 1: And sometimes I'd be like, Okay, you have to stop.

487
00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 1: You have to stop for yourself, for your health, but

488
00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:43,200
Speaker 1: you have to stop for your kids, for your husband.

489
00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:48,840
Speaker 1: Because this, this whole murder has it's like a ticking

490
00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:51,440
Speaker 1: time bond that just like it's floating in my life

491
00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:55,280
Speaker 1: and you're trying to take the millions of pieces and

492
00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:59,640
Speaker 1: put them together, and so parts of me will never

493
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:05,160
Speaker 1: ever the whole. It's an emotional strength on my family,

494
00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:09,800
Speaker 1: my husband, my my marriage, it's all of this. So

495
00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:12,600
Speaker 1: the last couple of days, I've just been going through it.

496
00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:17,560
Speaker 1: We needed to step away. I hoped that the police

497
00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:22,680
Speaker 1: would finally do their jobs. I think that right now,

498
00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:26,400
Speaker 1: based on us leaving them with the information that we

499
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:29,680
Speaker 1: left them with, that that they're just gonna appease us

500
00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:33,040
Speaker 1: by passing us off to some new detectives. Nothing is

501
00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:35,120
Speaker 1: going to happen. They're not going to interview, they're not

502
00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:38,720
Speaker 1: gonna follow up, they're not going to even investigate anything

503
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:42,640
Speaker 1: other than what they've already done. My son will still

504
00:33:42,680 --> 00:34:06,920
Speaker 1: be a co case in Chicago whom all right. So,

505
00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:09,879
Speaker 1: so it's been more than a year since we sat

506
00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:13,839
Speaker 1: down with detectives Chaparral. What's happened in the last year.

507
00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:20,760
Speaker 1: Absolutely nothing. You hear crickets. They haven't called me, haven't

508
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:24,719
Speaker 1: given me any updates, haven't contacted any of the witnesses

509
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:28,080
Speaker 1: that we gave them. I haven't heard a peep from

510
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:34,160
Speaker 1: police We've checked in with Edgar Randall, Elena, all of

511
00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:40,880
Speaker 1: these witnesses and they haven't contacted them. Press three or

512
00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:44,160
Speaker 1: to speak to an operator, press zero. Please speak after

513
00:34:44,160 --> 00:34:48,120
Speaker 1: the town. Hi, Detective Bouch. My name is Chaparral Wells.

514
00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:50,960
Speaker 1: I'm the parent of Courtney Copeland. I was calling to

515
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:54,160
Speaker 1: get a status update on his case. He was murdered

516
00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:57,120
Speaker 1: on March four. A couple of weeks later after I

517
00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:01,040
Speaker 1: left this message, Allison actually ran into another detectives on

518
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:05,480
Speaker 1: Courtney's case, detective a model. She bumped into him at

519
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:12,480
Speaker 1: Sesame Street Live. She was there with her family and

520
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:17,520
Speaker 1: a model was working security. She said hello and reminded

521
00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:22,120
Speaker 1: him about the case. Two weeks later, a model called me.

522
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:26,960
Speaker 1: I was at church. I swells this detective a model

523
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:28,920
Speaker 1: over an area north. I was wondering to give me

524
00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:33,000
Speaker 1: a call back at your earliest convenience. I called him

525
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:35,560
Speaker 1: back as soon as I got home. Then I hopped

526
00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:40,239
Speaker 1: back on the line with Alison. Okay, Hey, okay. So

527
00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:44,879
Speaker 1: basically his call was based on him wanting to all

528
00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:48,080
Speaker 1: of a sudden, you put Corney case in the cold

529
00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:51,680
Speaker 1: case file and make it a profile on their website.

530
00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:57,640
Speaker 1: What does that mean? So he wants to put Courtney

531
00:35:57,719 --> 00:36:03,120
Speaker 1: photo and everything on to the website, stated that they're

532
00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:06,600
Speaker 1: looking for information. Yeah. Did. He said he had not

533
00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:09,560
Speaker 1: talked to Edgar yet, he ain't talked the air girl.

534
00:36:10,239 --> 00:36:12,479
Speaker 1: He basically admitted that he ain't talked the air girl

535
00:36:13,600 --> 00:36:19,480
Speaker 1: and what about Um, so they basically didn't follow up

536
00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:21,600
Speaker 1: on our leads over the last year and now they're

537
00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:23,279
Speaker 1: wanting to all of a sudden put it in the

538
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:28,640
Speaker 1: cold case unit. M hmm, well, um, how are you feeling?

539
00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:32,680
Speaker 1: I felt like he was going smoke because it was like, Oh,

540
00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:36,520
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about your son's case and I've been trying whatever. Dude,

541
00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:40,640
Speaker 1: I'm like and he was like, well, well, if you

542
00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:43,040
Speaker 1: want to meet with me again and we'll go over everything,

543
00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:45,960
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, I mean we already gave them everything.

544
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:48,200
Speaker 1: And I was trying to tell him. I said, that's

545
00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:50,440
Speaker 1: why we were wondering why didn't you speak to a

546
00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:54,640
Speaker 1: later subject, because I said, I basically told him, I

547
00:36:54,680 --> 00:37:01,279
Speaker 1: said that information matched Elena club and said a grandma Keith.

548
00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:04,480
Speaker 1: Randall said a grandma Keith, And I said it wasn't

549
00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:11,080
Speaker 1: that far in between from the initial students. So for

550
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:18,120
Speaker 1: a year and you ain't did nothing. When I watched

551
00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:22,040
Speaker 1: the news, I keep seeing over and over again, whose

552
00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:27,719
Speaker 1: life matter in whose cases matter enough to solve? No

553
00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:31,200
Speaker 1: matter how many times I meet with police, my son

554
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:36,400
Speaker 1: murder still doesn't seem to matter to them. But this

555
00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:39,239
Speaker 1: whole thing is so much bigger than who pulled the

556
00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:43,479
Speaker 1: trigger on my son. It's so much bigger than Courtney's case.

557
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:47,759
Speaker 1: Things don't have to be this way, and there's so

558
00:37:47,840 --> 00:38:04,240
Speaker 1: much more I've got to do. Everybody, so by every day,

559
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:15,279
Speaker 1: no bide these nothing. Somebody is a co production of

560
00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:20,160
Speaker 1: The Invisible Institute, The Intercept, Topic Studios, and I Heart Radio,

561
00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:26,360
Speaker 1: and association with Tenderfoot TV. I'm chakral Wells. This podcast

562
00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:30,760
Speaker 1: is produced by Alison Flowers and Bill Heally. Sarah Guice

563
00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:35,040
Speaker 1: is our story editor. Ellen Glover is our associate producer

564
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:40,120
Speaker 1: for The Invisible Institute. Jamie Calvin is executive producer for

565
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:45,200
Speaker 1: Topic Studios. Maria Zuckerman, Christie Gressman and Letal Mallard are

566
00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:50,560
Speaker 1: executive producers. Special thanks to Lizzie Jacobs for The Intercept.

567
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:55,600
Speaker 1: Roger Hodge, Deputy Editor, is supervising producer. Sound designed by

568
00:38:55,640 --> 00:39:01,160
Speaker 1: Carl Scott and Bart Warshaw. Our theme song Everybody's Something

569
00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:04,520
Speaker 1: is by Chance the Rapper. Original music for the podcast

570
00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:08,040
Speaker 1: by Nate Fox of The Social Experiment and Eric Butler.

571
00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:15,040
Speaker 1: Additional reporting by Sam Steclo, Annie When, Kahari Blackburn, Rajie Sinclair,

572
00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:22,640
Speaker 1: Henry Adams, Matilda Voyat, Dana brosos kellerher Francis McDonald, Diana Archmagian,

573
00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:29,160
Speaker 1: Maddie Anderson, Andrew Fan and risa Apintaku. Translation support by

574
00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:34,040
Speaker 1: Benny Hernandez Occampo and Emma Perez. Fact checking by Noah

575
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:39,680
Speaker 1: Are Jenny Special thanks to Chris Rasmussen, Bennett Epstein, Matt Topic,

576
00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:44,160
Speaker 1: David Bralow, and Julie Wolf. We want to hear from you.

577
00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:49,320
Speaker 1: Email us at info at Somebody podcast dot com or

578
00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:53,800
Speaker 1: leave us a voicemail at seven seven three to seven

579
00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:58,279
Speaker 1: zero zero one to one. To learn more about this

580
00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:01,440
Speaker 1: case and for links to addition no materials, go to

581
00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:05,600
Speaker 1: our show page at Somebody podcast dot com. You can

582
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:08,080
Speaker 1: also find a list of everyone we want to think

583
00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:11,840
Speaker 1: there so many people helped us along the way. M