WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Melissa Witt [From the Archives] 0:00:46.480 --> 0:00:51.961 School of Humans. Helen Gon Murder Line actively investigates cold 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.361 case murders in an effort to raise public awareness, invite 0:00:55.401 --> 0:00:58.761 witnesses to come forward and present evidence that could potentially 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:02.961 be further investigated by law enforcement. While we value insights 0:01:03.001 --> 0:01:06.160 from family and community members, their statements should not be 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.961 considered evidence and point to the challenges of verifying facts 0:01:10.041 --> 0:01:14.041 inherent in cold cases. We remind listeners that everyone has 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.160 presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 0:01:17.961 --> 0:01:20.840 Nothing in the podcast is intended to state or imply 0:01:21.041 --> 0:01:23.601 that anyone who has not been convicted of a crime 0:01:24.121 --> 0:01:27.121 is guilty of any wrongdoing. Thanks for listening. 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:30.761 Over the past five years making my true crime podcast, 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:34.080 Helen Gone, I've learned that there is no such thing 0:01:34.241 --> 0:01:37.601 as a small town where murder never happens. I have 0:01:37.761 --> 0:01:41.001 received hundreds of messages from people all around the country 0:01:41.401 --> 0:01:44.081 asking for help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, 0:01:44.401 --> 0:01:48.601 their families, and their communities, and now they have a 0:01:48.601 --> 0:01:52.721 new way to reach out. I'm Catherine Townsend. This is 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:56.441 Helen Gone Murder Line. If you have a case you'd 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:58.881 like me and my team to look into, you can 0:01:58.921 --> 0:02:02.241 reach out to us at six seven eight seven four four, 0:02:02.761 --> 0:02:06.441 six one four or five. That's six seven eight seven 0:02:06.481 --> 0:02:13.321 four four sixty one four or five. Thursday, December first, 0:02:13.441 --> 0:02:16.440 nineteen ninety four started out as just a normal day 0:02:16.561 --> 0:02:21.000 for Melissa missy Wit. Melissa was a nineteen year old 0:02:21.001 --> 0:02:23.201 college student who still lived at home with her mom, 0:02:23.281 --> 0:02:26.000 mary Anne Whitt, on a quiet street in a quiet 0:02:26.081 --> 0:02:30.361 neighborhood in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Melissa was Marianne's only daughter, 0:02:30.481 --> 0:02:35.201 and Melissa was her whole world. In interviews later, Marianne 0:02:35.201 --> 0:02:37.521 talked about how she'd been almost forty years old when 0:02:37.561 --> 0:02:40.641 Melissa was born. Melissa's dad, Johnny, was fifty four at 0:02:40.641 --> 0:02:44.361 the time. Today that's more common, especially in places like 0:02:44.401 --> 0:02:45.881 New York City, where I've spent a lot of my 0:02:45.881 --> 0:02:49.441 adult life, but back then, in small town Arkansas, it 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:54.001 was definitely not. Because they were so close. Mary Anne 0:02:54.081 --> 0:02:57.921 was always very protective of Melissa. She always thought about safety. 0:02:58.961 --> 0:03:02.081 Fort Smith had around seventy five thousand people living there 0:03:02.281 --> 0:03:05.961 back in the early nineties with a military base. It 0:03:06.041 --> 0:03:09.281 was much larger and more diverse than say a lot 0:03:09.281 --> 0:03:12.001 of towns in the Ozarks, but it still had that 0:03:12.041 --> 0:03:15.521 small town feel when Melissa was growing up. It was 0:03:15.561 --> 0:03:18.641 the kind of place where kids rode their bikes around 0:03:18.641 --> 0:03:22.601 town and entertained themselves after school. On that December morning 0:03:22.721 --> 0:03:25.761 in nineteen ninety four, Melissa asked mary Anne if she 0:03:25.761 --> 0:03:29.081 could borrow twenty dollars. Mary Anne was trying to teach 0:03:29.121 --> 0:03:33.281 Melissa about smarter budgeting, so she said no. Melissa and 0:03:33.361 --> 0:03:35.761 mary Anne actually got into a little argument over this, 0:03:36.281 --> 0:03:39.201 and Melissa left the house that day without them resolving it. 0:03:40.321 --> 0:03:43.401 After Melissa left, mary Anne felt bad about the argument, 0:03:43.961 --> 0:03:46.321 so she left Melissa a note telling her to come 0:03:46.321 --> 0:03:49.041 to Bowling World that night, where mary Anne was part 0:03:49.081 --> 0:03:53.041 of a ladies bowling league. In the note, Marianne apologized 0:03:53.041 --> 0:03:55.041 for getting upset with her and offered to buy her 0:03:55.041 --> 0:03:57.761 a Hamburger when they saw each other that night. She 0:03:57.921 --> 0:04:02.241 signed the note, love Mom. Melissa did go to meet 0:04:02.241 --> 0:04:05.201 her mom that night at Bowling World, but she never 0:04:05.241 --> 0:04:11.761 made it inside. Instead, Melissa disappeared, and Marianne never saw 0:04:11.801 --> 0:04:13.041 her daughter alive again. 0:04:14.081 --> 0:04:14.721 For days. 0:04:15.161 --> 0:04:18.760 No one noticed that Melissa's brand new white nineteen ninety 0:04:18.801 --> 0:04:21.880 five Mitsubishi Mirage was parked in a far corner of 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:25.200 that parking lot, and no one noticed the blood. 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:30.121 Alan it's being lookout for a Melissa Whit me a 0:04:30.121 --> 0:04:33.961 white female nineteen years of age five one point five 0:04:35.081 --> 0:04:41.200 have hazel eyes, brownish blond hair. When I've seen Thursday 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:44.200 December First. 0:04:44.320 --> 0:05:26.401 I'm Catherine Townsend. This is Helen Gone Murder Line. 0:05:32.601 --> 0:05:34.001 Hi Catherine, this is LaDonna. 0:05:34.281 --> 0:05:37.081 I just wanted to talk to you about the Melissa whitcase. 0:05:38.001 --> 0:05:41.201 I was introduced to the Melissa whitcase through Loadonna Humphrey, 0:05:41.801 --> 0:05:46.281 a private investigator and native Northwest Arkansas. We've been talking 0:05:46.321 --> 0:05:49.761 about Melissa's case for a couple of years now. LaDonna 0:05:49.841 --> 0:05:52.760 has devoted years of her life to investigating the case 0:05:53.041 --> 0:05:56.681 and to getting justice from Melissa's family and friends. She's 0:05:56.721 --> 0:05:59.601 also written two books about Melissa called The Girl I 0:05:59.641 --> 0:06:03.320 Never Knew and Strangled, and made a documentary about the 0:06:03.321 --> 0:06:05.961 case called Uneven Ground The Melissa Whit Story. 0:06:06.601 --> 0:06:07.481 I have been a part of. 0:06:07.401 --> 0:06:11.121 A nonprofit that I had founded called Let's Bring Them Home. 0:06:11.401 --> 0:06:16.601 We offered support to families who had adult cases that 0:06:16.641 --> 0:06:19.801 had gone missing, and we acted as a liaison between 0:06:19.841 --> 0:06:21.681 the family and law enforcement. 0:06:21.361 --> 0:06:22.921 And we wanted to film a documentary. 0:06:23.441 --> 0:06:27.001 Our team got together and everyone kept bringing up the 0:06:27.041 --> 0:06:30.881 Melissa Whit case, and I was really actually against it 0:06:30.921 --> 0:06:33.521 in the beginning because obviously she's not a long term 0:06:33.601 --> 0:06:34.201 missing case. 0:06:34.241 --> 0:06:35.440 They found her body. 0:06:35.161 --> 0:06:39.121 Six weeks after she disappeared, but the team out voted me, 0:06:39.321 --> 0:06:41.401 sent me to Fort Smith, and really kind of the 0:06:41.441 --> 0:06:42.281 rest is history. 0:06:42.441 --> 0:06:45.801 Once I met with law Enforce and realized how passionate. 0:06:45.441 --> 0:06:47.440 They were about the case, I knew that I needed 0:06:47.441 --> 0:06:52.001 to get involved, and it was initially just for the documentary, 0:06:52.041 --> 0:06:54.561 and then it really morphed into me being more involved 0:06:54.641 --> 0:06:56.760 in the day to day things that were happening with 0:06:56.801 --> 0:06:57.281 her case. 0:06:58.441 --> 0:07:01.361 Loa Donna had a unique experience. She was able to 0:07:01.401 --> 0:07:03.801 gain the trust of J. C Ryder, who was the 0:07:03.881 --> 0:07:08.641 lead investigator on Melissa's case for years. Donna got access 0:07:08.641 --> 0:07:09.321 to the case file. 0:07:10.561 --> 0:07:14.001 I had brought some information to them in my initial 0:07:14.041 --> 0:07:17.841 work with the documentary that started putting some pieces together 0:07:17.961 --> 0:07:22.601 for them and kind of led them back to a 0:07:22.641 --> 0:07:26.041 suspect that they'd had all along, okay, because he started 0:07:26.081 --> 0:07:26.761 contacting me. 0:07:26.801 --> 0:07:29.041 Because this was before I was a private investigator. I 0:07:29.081 --> 0:07:29.361 was just. 0:07:29.881 --> 0:07:33.801 Normal citizen filmmaker doing my thing, and I think that 0:07:33.881 --> 0:07:37.841 they realized that this could be a perfect storm really 0:07:37.881 --> 0:07:40.321 for the WIB case because it was bringing renewed interest. 0:07:40.401 --> 0:07:43.201 But not only that, there was information that was coming 0:07:43.241 --> 0:07:47.201 into the case that was valuable that I was turning. 0:07:46.921 --> 0:07:48.841 Over to them that they had never gotten before. 0:07:49.081 --> 0:07:53.121 And they made a decision then as a department that 0:07:53.481 --> 0:07:55.841 they were going to allow me to see the case files. 0:07:55.841 --> 0:07:57.961 There was a bunch of rules around it that couldn't 0:07:57.961 --> 0:07:59.881 take any of it with me, you know, I. 0:07:59.801 --> 0:08:03.921 Couldn't share the information in the film, some of it, 0:08:04.001 --> 0:08:05.881 but they felt like I needed to know some of 0:08:05.881 --> 0:08:08.761 the information basically because I was dealing with some of 0:08:08.801 --> 0:08:12.641 the characters that they were looking at really closely in 0:08:12.681 --> 0:08:15.641 Melissa's murder. But yeah, it was interesting because that doesn't 0:08:15.641 --> 0:08:19.161 happen very often, and they allow me to stay to 0:08:19.241 --> 0:08:22.121 continue to stay involved in the case because now it's 0:08:22.161 --> 0:08:25.721 more of a partnership than anything else to you know. 0:08:25.721 --> 0:08:27.361 Get justice from Melissa. 0:08:27.521 --> 0:08:29.601 We're going to go through some of the theories in 0:08:29.641 --> 0:08:32.601 the case, but first we have to go back to 0:08:32.641 --> 0:08:35.961 the beginning, to the last twenty four hours of Melissa's 0:08:36.001 --> 0:08:40.361 life to see if there's anything that we missed. Melissa 0:08:40.441 --> 0:08:44.800 was pretty bubbly, friendly and kind. Her friend Tara, talked 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:47.560 to local news channel News five about how she became 0:08:47.641 --> 0:08:50.121 fast friends with Melissa when they were around five or 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:53.121 six years old. She said that they would ride their 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:56.200 bikes around town and go to local fast food restaurants 0:08:56.241 --> 0:08:59.560 like KFC and Hardy's. They would buy candy cigarettes and 0:08:59.560 --> 0:09:02.241 pretend to smoke them. When they got to high school, 0:09:02.761 --> 0:09:06.920 Tara said Melissa always retained that friendly innocence. They would 0:09:06.961 --> 0:09:10.001 cruise around town on the weekends. Melissa would talk about 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.920 boys who she thought were cute, but for the most part, 0:09:13.241 --> 0:09:17.321 Tara said, Melissa remained focused on school. Melissa was an 0:09:17.321 --> 0:09:20.401 honor student and a cheerleader. She didn't have a regular 0:09:20.401 --> 0:09:22.920 boyfriend in high school, but she did have lots of friends. 0:09:24.081 --> 0:09:28.361 After graduation, Melissa enrolled at West Dark Community College, which 0:09:28.361 --> 0:09:30.761 is now part of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. 0:09:31.641 --> 0:09:34.881 Melissa also had a part time job at a dentist's office. 0:09:35.201 --> 0:09:39.561 She was studying to be a dental assistant. On that Thursday, 0:09:39.761 --> 0:09:42.961 after leaving home, Melissa had classes in the morning, then 0:09:43.041 --> 0:09:46.721 she had lunch with a friend at the mall. That afternoon, 0:09:46.801 --> 0:09:49.321 she went over to Family Dentistry. The dentist office where 0:09:49.361 --> 0:09:52.320 she worked. The dentist, doctor Jennings, and the rest of 0:09:52.361 --> 0:09:56.161 her colleagues said Melissa was her happy and normal, bubbly self. 0:09:57.121 --> 0:10:00.481 Nothing seemed out of the ordinary that day. Melissa left 0:10:00.481 --> 0:10:04.201 work a little after five pm. But then something out 0:10:04.201 --> 0:10:07.961 of the ordinary did happen because when she got outside, 0:10:08.201 --> 0:10:11.841 her car wouldn't start. Now a woman Melissa worked with 0:10:11.961 --> 0:10:15.161 told five News that what happened was Melissa had left 0:10:15.161 --> 0:10:17.920 her lights on for too long, so she needed to 0:10:17.961 --> 0:10:20.841 get a jump. This coworker said they were looking for 0:10:20.881 --> 0:10:23.961 someone with jumper cables. They went next door and found 0:10:23.961 --> 0:10:26.401 a guy who worked at a business there. This was 0:10:26.441 --> 0:10:29.641 the person l Donna called the Good Samaritan in her book, 0:10:30.401 --> 0:10:34.681 The Good Samaritan helped Melissa jumpstarter car. The coworker told 0:10:34.681 --> 0:10:37.481 the news station that she stayed to watch Melissa start 0:10:37.481 --> 0:10:40.361 the jump process. Then when the cables were attached, she 0:10:40.401 --> 0:10:42.961 told Melissa to just leave her car running for like 0:10:43.001 --> 0:10:46.361 fifteen minutes to make sure the battery was charged. Then 0:10:46.441 --> 0:10:50.681 the coworker left. Now, in her book and in multiple 0:10:50.721 --> 0:10:54.561 media reports, we learned that the Good Samaritan was cleared 0:10:54.601 --> 0:10:58.681 by police pretty early in the investigation. But as we 0:10:58.801 --> 0:11:02.881 know from previous seasons of Helen Gone, we can't assume anything. 0:11:03.921 --> 0:11:05.841 I asked the Donna about the Good Samaritan. 0:11:06.761 --> 0:11:09.441 You know, obviously when someone goes missing, as you know, 0:11:09.801 --> 0:11:12.680 they're going to look at the day's activities pretty closely. 0:11:12.721 --> 0:11:15.761 And of course that was pretty suspicious to law enforcement 0:11:15.921 --> 0:11:19.361 because to have her car not started, and they looked 0:11:19.361 --> 0:11:22.241 at that really really closely. The Good Samaritan, who they 0:11:22.241 --> 0:11:25.201 try not to name just to not disrupt. 0:11:24.721 --> 0:11:28.401 His life, he worked nearby to the dental office, and 0:11:29.641 --> 0:11:32.121 as it turns out, she had left her lights on 0:11:32.241 --> 0:11:34.920 her car most of the day, starting from when she 0:11:34.961 --> 0:11:37.160 had been at the mall to have lunch, and that's what. 0:11:37.641 --> 0:11:41.601 Killed the battery. And so they looked at him so closely. 0:11:41.801 --> 0:11:45.281 In fact, I think he was probably interviewed maybe half 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:47.961 a dozen times, and he just. 0:11:48.441 --> 0:11:50.441 Had no connection to what had happened to her. 0:11:50.921 --> 0:11:53.561 It was one of those things that you know, he 0:11:53.721 --> 0:11:55.281 was a good smart and he helped her, but it 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:56.921 was almost like he was at the wrong place at 0:11:56.921 --> 0:11:57.481 the wrong. 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:00.001 Time because she went missing that day. But he was 0:12:00.041 --> 0:12:01.641 completely cleared by law enforcement. 0:12:02.721 --> 0:12:06.601 After getting her car started, Melissa drove home, which was 0:12:06.641 --> 0:12:09.561 just a few minutes from the dental office. She left 0:12:09.601 --> 0:12:11.680 work at five point fifty, so this would have put 0:12:11.681 --> 0:12:15.481 her home a little after six Her dental scrubs were 0:12:15.481 --> 0:12:18.241 found crumpled up on her bedroom floor, like she had 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:21.161 taken them off to do a quick clothing change, and 0:12:21.241 --> 0:12:24.681 her mom later told investigators that, based on the clothes 0:12:24.721 --> 0:12:28.401 that were missing, Melissa changed into jeans, a white V 0:12:28.521 --> 0:12:32.321 neck sweater, silver hoop, earrings with a wavy pattern on them, 0:12:32.441 --> 0:12:36.881 and a Mickey Mouse wristwatch. Police figured out later that 0:12:37.001 --> 0:12:41.161 Melissa must have seen her mother's note because Melissa then 0:12:41.241 --> 0:12:45.801 headed out to Bowling world Sstigators estimated Melissa arrived at 0:12:45.801 --> 0:12:49.881 Bowling World between six thirty and seven PM. Now, at 0:12:49.881 --> 0:12:52.280 that time, the parking lot would have been pretty full. 0:12:52.841 --> 0:12:56.201 The bowling league was popular by the time Melissa got there, 0:12:56.321 --> 0:12:59.641 pretty much everyone would have been inside, which is part 0:12:59.641 --> 0:13:03.081 of the reason why police later could not find many witnesses. 0:13:03.921 --> 0:13:08.441 But Melissa never made it inside. Mary Anne, of course 0:13:08.521 --> 0:13:11.641 noticed that Melissa never showed up at Bowling World, and 0:13:11.721 --> 0:13:14.121 after she got home and saw Melissa's car was not 0:13:14.161 --> 0:13:18.160 there at the house, she got worried. Mary Anne called 0:13:18.201 --> 0:13:22.521 Melissa's friends, but no one had seen her. The next morning, 0:13:22.641 --> 0:13:26.121 Friday morning, Melissa's friend Tara said that her mother walked 0:13:26.121 --> 0:13:28.361 into her room and asked if she'd heard from Melissa. 0:13:29.401 --> 0:13:32.201 Her mom said Maryanne had called the house looking for Melissa. 0:13:32.761 --> 0:13:35.321 Tara said no, but she said they were supposed to 0:13:35.321 --> 0:13:38.001 go out on that Friday night. She figured they would 0:13:38.041 --> 0:13:42.280 catch up later. Then Tara went to class. They had 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:44.921 a biology class together, and when Melissa didn't show up 0:13:44.921 --> 0:13:49.441 in that biology class, Tara immediately suspected something bad had happened. 0:13:50.081 --> 0:13:54.681 This was not like Melissa. Melissa was extremely responsible. That's 0:13:54.681 --> 0:13:58.241 when Marianne went to the police. But then the first 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:00.920 officer to talk to mary Anne, in my opinion, made 0:14:00.961 --> 0:14:04.961 a crucial and unfortunately a far too common error. We 0:14:05.001 --> 0:14:07.401 see this over and over in this podcast and in 0:14:07.401 --> 0:14:11.241 our investigations. Mary Anne was talking about what happened that morning, 0:14:11.361 --> 0:14:14.241 and she mentioned that small argument she had gotten into 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:17.761 with Melissa over the twenty dollars that apparently led the 0:14:17.841 --> 0:14:20.401 officer to believe that Melissa could. 0:14:20.201 --> 0:14:20.921 Have been a runaway. 0:14:21.721 --> 0:14:26.241 Since Melissa was over eighteen and was an adult, of course, 0:14:26.321 --> 0:14:29.081 she did have the right to disappear voluntarily, but mary 0:14:29.121 --> 0:14:32.441 Anne and all Melissa's friends kept telling police there was 0:14:32.481 --> 0:14:34.921 no way she would do that. This was not like Melissa. 0:14:35.241 --> 0:14:38.401 This was completely out of character. She would not just disappear. 0:14:39.321 --> 0:14:43.201 Because of this delay by police, crucial hours in the 0:14:43.241 --> 0:14:47.481 beginning of the investigation were lost. Melissa's family did not 0:14:47.561 --> 0:14:50.001 want to wait, so they got together with some of 0:14:50.041 --> 0:14:52.161 her friends and other members of the community and they 0:14:52.201 --> 0:14:55.681 started searching for her. They printed thousands of flyers with 0:14:55.721 --> 0:14:58.401 Melissa's picture on them. They also put her picture on 0:14:58.441 --> 0:15:02.321 billboards around town. Local news media took the story and 0:15:02.481 --> 0:15:05.401 ran with it, and once that story hit local news, 0:15:05.721 --> 0:15:09.321 a crucial tip came in. A Bowling World employee called 0:15:09.321 --> 0:15:11.721 the police and told them that on the night Melissa 0:15:11.721 --> 0:15:14.961 went missing, a construction worker and his family turned in 0:15:15.001 --> 0:15:17.601 a set of keys they found in the parking lot. 0:15:17.801 --> 0:15:20.961 This happened at around seven forty five pm, so this 0:15:21.001 --> 0:15:23.201 would have been just a few minutes after police say 0:15:23.241 --> 0:15:27.081 Melissa arrived at Bowling World. The key ring had Missy 0:15:27.121 --> 0:15:31.881 written on it. The keys belonged to Melissa. Later forensic 0:15:31.921 --> 0:15:35.401 testing would reveal they had tiny specks of blood on them. 0:15:35.921 --> 0:15:39.201 At that point, police did suspect foul play. They turned 0:15:39.201 --> 0:15:42.041 the case over to the Fort Smith Major Crimes Unit, 0:15:42.641 --> 0:15:45.161 and that's when investig Gator J. C. Rider took over 0:15:45.201 --> 0:15:48.681 the case. Now should mention here that J. C Ryder 0:15:48.961 --> 0:15:52.881 has his own checkered history. Ledonna has worked with him 0:15:52.961 --> 0:15:56.521 for years. She presents him as a competent, carrying investigator 0:15:56.521 --> 0:15:59.241 who's been instrumental in getting the word out about Melissa 0:15:59.241 --> 0:16:03.361 WIT's case and never giving up. But as you all know, 0:16:04.081 --> 0:16:07.321 I don't take anything for granted, including the backgrounds of 0:16:07.361 --> 0:16:11.321 the people investigating the case. The allegations against J. C 0:16:11.521 --> 0:16:14.201 Rder go back to a man named Ron Fields. He 0:16:14.361 --> 0:16:16.921 was the deputy prosecuting attorney in Fort Smith from the 0:16:17.001 --> 0:16:20.081 late seventies until two thousand and five. Back in nineteen 0:16:20.121 --> 0:16:23.201 ninety five, when J. C Ryder was police captain, the 0:16:23.281 --> 0:16:27.441 FBI investigated claims that Ron Fields was dealing drugs and 0:16:27.561 --> 0:16:30.721 operating basically a hit squad that some people compared to 0:16:30.721 --> 0:16:33.761 the movie That Departed Inside the Fort Smith Police Department, 0:16:34.641 --> 0:16:38.961 the FBI investigated allegations that Ron Fields ordered J. C 0:16:39.121 --> 0:16:42.561 Ryder to kill a woman named Laurie Murchison and to 0:16:42.561 --> 0:16:45.081 get rid of her body. We're actually going to do 0:16:45.161 --> 0:16:49.321 an entirely separate episode about Lourie Murchison. It's way too 0:16:49.401 --> 0:16:52.921 complex and comprehensive to cover here, but needless to say, 0:16:53.441 --> 0:16:58.041 Ron Fields later became a suspect in Laurie's disappearance. J 0:16:58.281 --> 0:17:01.801 c Ryder, through his attorneys, has always maintained that those 0:17:01.841 --> 0:17:06.481 federal charges were completely ridiculous and not true. Jac's lawyer 0:17:06.521 --> 0:17:08.881 at the time told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette that their 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:13.721 quote absolutely nuts. The lawyer said the FBI basically went 0:17:13.761 --> 0:17:16.961 in and intimidated and threatened people to give them information. 0:17:17.801 --> 0:17:20.321 The lawyer said the whole thing was a witch hunt. 0:17:21.241 --> 0:17:24.161 The police detective who led the investigation into Lourie's death 0:17:24.281 --> 0:17:25.120 also back j c. 0:17:25.281 --> 0:17:25.600 Rider. 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.561 The detective said the evidence pointed to Lourie dying of 0:17:29.561 --> 0:17:33.001 a drug overdose and that there was a suspect in 0:17:33.001 --> 0:17:35.881 that case, someone who was imprisoned in Oklahoma, a place 0:17:35.921 --> 0:17:39.241 where Lourie traveled often. But the detective said they just 0:17:39.241 --> 0:17:41.881 didn't have enough evidence to charge that person in connection 0:17:41.921 --> 0:17:46.481 with Laurie's death. Going back to Melissa with so now 0:17:46.481 --> 0:17:50.481 it's December fourth, three days after Melissa disappeared, j c 0:17:50.681 --> 0:17:53.041 Ryder was assigned to the case. He and his fellow 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:57.281 detectives immediately searched the parking lot of Bowling World, and 0:17:57.361 --> 0:18:00.841 they found Melissa's white car abandoned there in the northwest 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:04.761 corner of the parking lot, so her car had been 0:18:04.801 --> 0:18:06.241 sitting there for three days. 0:18:06.961 --> 0:18:07.121 Now. 0:18:07.161 --> 0:18:09.360 This seemed a little bit weird at first that no 0:18:09.401 --> 0:18:13.281 one noticed that, but Melissa's mom hadn't seen it because 0:18:13.361 --> 0:18:15.641 again it was in the outer part of the lot 0:18:15.921 --> 0:18:18.241 when she came out and didn't see Melissa that night, 0:18:18.361 --> 0:18:21.481 she just assumed that Melissa never came to Bowling World. 0:18:22.241 --> 0:18:25.761 Officers searched around that car, and they found drops of blood. 0:18:26.561 --> 0:18:29.441 Melissa's blood had never been tested, so they couldn't confirm 0:18:29.481 --> 0:18:31.961 then that it was a match. But the drops of 0:18:31.961 --> 0:18:35.161 blood led pretty much from Melissa's vehicle over to the 0:18:35.201 --> 0:18:39.160 next row of cars. So the police theory was that 0:18:39.161 --> 0:18:43.201 Melissa was attacked and thrown into someone else's vehicle, and 0:18:43.241 --> 0:18:45.641 that the blood blood either came from her being hit, 0:18:46.041 --> 0:18:49.161 probably with a blunt force object, or when her head 0:18:49.241 --> 0:18:53.641 hit the parking lot pavement. Now police had what they 0:18:53.721 --> 0:18:58.640 believed to be the primary crime scene, they started looking 0:18:58.681 --> 0:19:02.961 for witnesses. Initially, there were reports that witnesses had seen 0:19:03.001 --> 0:19:06.401 Melissa with someone they described as a black, six foot 0:19:06.441 --> 0:19:09.840 two male. Rumors were flying that she had been involved 0:19:09.881 --> 0:19:13.120 in drug deals or sex trafficking, mainly because at the 0:19:13.201 --> 0:19:15.681 time there were a lot of people who dealt drugs, 0:19:15.881 --> 0:19:22.201 especially methamphetamines, near Fort Chaffee, the military base, but that 0:19:22.361 --> 0:19:26.281 sighting was later confirmed to be a totally erroneous mistake. 0:19:27.041 --> 0:19:30.241 Police did eventually find someone who was a credible witness, 0:19:30.721 --> 0:19:33.121 a ten year old boy who was actually the son 0:19:33.201 --> 0:19:37.160 of one of mary Anne's friends. While his mom was 0:19:37.201 --> 0:19:39.321 playing with mary Anne in the bowling league that night, 0:19:40.041 --> 0:19:41.681 she sent him out to the car to get some 0:19:41.761 --> 0:19:44.840 textbooks so he could start doing his homework. When the 0:19:44.881 --> 0:19:47.600 boy came back in, he said that he saw a 0:19:47.641 --> 0:19:50.881 man and a woman fighting in the parking lot. At 0:19:50.881 --> 0:19:53.041 the time, his mom didn't think too much about it, 0:19:53.761 --> 0:19:59.761 but police later believed that he witnessed Melissa with her abductor. Unfortunately, 0:20:00.241 --> 0:20:03.281 the boy didn't see enough of the kidnapper's appearance to 0:20:03.281 --> 0:20:07.641 make a full sketch. Another early missing poster said Melissa 0:20:07.641 --> 0:20:11.001 had been spotted quote possibly in nineteen eighty one gray 0:20:11.121 --> 0:20:14.680 Oldsmobile cutlass with a tall, white male with black, wavy 0:20:14.681 --> 0:20:18.041 hair and an earring end quote. I saw this tip 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:20.880 on a missing poster from an old news report, and 0:20:20.961 --> 0:20:22.801 I still don't know who reported it or where that 0:20:22.881 --> 0:20:26.801 came from. As with so many investigations that get a 0:20:26.801 --> 0:20:30.041 lot of press, thousands of tips were flooding in, so 0:20:30.161 --> 0:20:32.201 now police had to figure out which ones were good 0:20:32.321 --> 0:20:36.041 leads and which ones were dead ends. Everyone in town 0:20:36.121 --> 0:20:39.241 had a theory about who could have killed Melissa. Was 0:20:39.281 --> 0:20:41.441 it a drug deal gone bad? Was it a random 0:20:41.481 --> 0:20:44.281 serial killer who came in off Interstate five while passing 0:20:44.321 --> 0:20:48.921 through town, or was it someone she knew. Melissa's personal 0:20:48.961 --> 0:20:52.641 life didn't seem to offer a lot of clues. At first, 0:20:52.881 --> 0:20:55.521 she was well liked, She didn't have any enemies. She 0:20:55.561 --> 0:20:59.160 also didn't have any turmoil in her personal relationship. No 0:20:59.281 --> 0:21:02.241 fighting with boyfriends, or at least not ones that anyone 0:21:02.321 --> 0:21:06.681 knew about. The holiday season passed mary Anne's first one 0:21:06.721 --> 0:21:07.441 without her daughter. 0:21:08.601 --> 0:21:10.961 No one had a clue what happened to Melissa. 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:15.801 Almost six weeks later, on January thirteenth, nineteen ninety five, 0:21:16.441 --> 0:21:19.241 two hunters were near Turner Bend in the Ozark National 0:21:19.281 --> 0:21:23.840 Forest when they saw a nude body. Dental records proved 0:21:24.601 --> 0:21:30.081 this was Melissa Wit. Melissa had been found. This was tragic, 0:21:30.761 --> 0:21:33.241 but detectives hope now they would be able to gather 0:21:33.321 --> 0:21:36.080 evidence from her body, hopefully evidence that would get them 0:21:36.121 --> 0:21:40.600 closer to finding her killer. Melissa was naked, so all 0:21:40.681 --> 0:21:44.680 of her clothing, shoes, and jewelry, including her other earring 0:21:45.201 --> 0:21:47.921 and her Mickey Mouse watch with a brown band, were 0:21:47.961 --> 0:21:53.521 all missing. Her autopsy revealed blunt forest head injuries, either 0:21:53.601 --> 0:21:56.080 from an object she was struck with or possibly from 0:21:56.121 --> 0:22:00.001 her head hitting the ground. Then Melissa's killer or killers 0:22:00.681 --> 0:22:03.321 probably put her into a vehicle in the next row 0:22:03.321 --> 0:22:06.481 of cars. Someone drove her to that area where her 0:22:06.521 --> 0:22:11.161 body was found. Investigators believe that remote location is where 0:22:11.201 --> 0:22:15.321 Melissa Whit died. It's located down a single lane dirt 0:22:15.401 --> 0:22:19.721 road that's used for logging. The autopsy revealed that the 0:22:19.761 --> 0:22:24.641 cause of death was exphyxiation by strangulation. When I spoke 0:22:24.721 --> 0:22:27.841 to her, le Donna talked about how she retraced Melissa's 0:22:27.881 --> 0:22:30.881 root and how horrifying it must have been for her 0:22:31.201 --> 0:22:34.321 to be riding in that car with a head wound bleeding, 0:22:35.080 --> 0:22:37.801 knowing that something horrible was about to happen to her. 0:22:38.601 --> 0:22:39.201 Love for sand. 0:22:39.201 --> 0:22:41.801 They take me out to its remote site in the 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:45.801 Ozark National Chorus, and I had a sense of dread. 0:22:45.881 --> 0:22:48.600 The whole way there because it's it's just this, you know, 0:22:48.601 --> 0:22:52.001 there's a lot of beauty to look at, but knowing 0:22:52.080 --> 0:22:54.841 how remote it was as we're you know, winding around 0:22:54.921 --> 0:22:57.201 and seeing like there was nowhere for her to go, 0:22:57.921 --> 0:22:59.200 nowhere for her to escape. 0:22:59.441 --> 0:23:02.361 And when we parked the car and I got out, 0:23:02.481 --> 0:23:05.080 one of the first things that j. C Ryder looked 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:06.921 at me and said was, if you. 0:23:07.001 --> 0:23:10.401 Screamed right now, Ladna, Hon'll bring nobody would hear you. 0:23:11.801 --> 0:23:18.801 And I remember being just almost to the point of tears. 0:23:18.401 --> 0:23:21.400 And I'm not like a crier, really very easy, but 0:23:22.121 --> 0:23:25.881 realizing this nineteen year old girl was out there at 0:23:26.001 --> 0:23:29.080 night was someone who had already attacked her in a 0:23:29.121 --> 0:23:29.681 parking lot. 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:32.041 She had to have known what was going to happen next. 0:23:32.601 --> 0:23:37.321 The amount of fear that she had, and that part 0:23:37.321 --> 0:23:40.561 of the case really broke me, especially seeing where he 0:23:40.641 --> 0:23:43.161 left her, you know, eventually left her body like. 0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:43.681 She didn't matter. 0:23:45.840 --> 0:23:49.281 Investigators said they found pieces of leaves in Melissa's lungs 0:23:49.481 --> 0:23:51.761 and grass and other vegetation that was native to the 0:23:51.761 --> 0:23:55.561